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TOWN HALL DEDICATED FEBRUARY 22, 1894 



u 

A BRIEF HISTORY 

OF THE 

Town of Fairhaven 

MASSACHUSETTS 

PREPARED IN CONNECTION WITH 
THE CELEBRATION OF 

OLD HOME WEEK 

JULY 26-31, 1903 

...BY... 

JAMES L. GILLINGHAM 

CYRUS D. HUNT 

LEWIS S. JUDD, JR. 

GEORGE H. TRIPP 



F3 



om 



HOV 131907 ^ 



PREFACE 



^ I ^ HIS book has been prepared by the Committee on Town 
-■- History of the Fairhaven Old Home Week Association in 
obedience to instructions from the Executive Committee of the 
Association. 

The recital of the story of its origin, progress, natural 
beauties, accessible locations, municipal improvements, and edu- 
cational opportunities is made in the earnest hope that it will 
invite the capitalist, the artisan, the tradesman, the. person of 
leisure, and the man of family to become a resident. 

If this hv'iei sketch of a notable past and a live and active 
present shall create a closer acquaintanceship between its sons 
and daughters, who have gone forth and made their homes else- 
where, and those who remain in the old town it will have served 
a worthy end. 

The committee express their obligations to all who have 
assisted with information for the preparation of these pages, and 
especially to C. D. Waldron, Edward G. Sjxjoner, Herbert 
D. Burke, Helen B. Copeland, Joseph G. Tirrell, and Henry W. 
Taber for the loan of negatives, photographs, and cuts for the 
illustration of this book. 



FAIRHAVEN 
OLD HOME WEEK ASSOCIATION 

Organized March 24, 19U3 



President 

HENRY H. ROGERS 

Vice Presidents 

JAMES L. GIF.LINGHAM JOHN H. HOVVLAND 

GEORGE H. TRIPP RUFUS A. SOULE 

THOMAS A. TRIPP GEORGE HOWLAND COX 

HERBERT JENNEY 

Executive Committee 

THE PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENTS, CORRESPONDING SECRE 
TARY, RECORDING SECRETARY, TREASURER, AND 
ASSISTANT TREASURER, ex officio 
LEWIS T. SHURTLEFF EDWARD G. SPOONER 

<YRUS D. HUNT NATHANIEL POPE 

DANIEL W. DEANE JAMES EDE 

ELBRIDGE G. PAULL LYMAN C. BAULDRY 

HENRY D. WALDRON ALBERT G. BRALEY 

Mrs. frank H. CHURCH Mrs. ELBRIDGE G. MORTON 

Mrs. DAVID T. HATHAWAY Mrs. FRANK A. BLOSSOM 
Mrs. GEORGE W. STEVENS 

Corresponding Secretary 

JOB C. TRIPP 

Recording Secretary 

Mrs. HORACE K. NYE 

Treasurer 

WALTER P. WINSOR 

Assistant Treasurer 

GEORGE B. LUTHER 



COMMITTEES 

Invitation^ Reception and Hospitality — Levi M. Snow, Chiiirnian ; Drew B. Hall, 
Mrs. Frank A. Blossom, Frank M. Marsh. 

Transportation — John I. Bryant, Chairman; L. B. F. Kaycroft, James Ede, 
Elbridge G. Faull, Albert G. Braley. 

Music, Speakers, and Frogrammes — Job C. Tripp, Chairman; Thomas A. Ti'ipp, 
Henry D. VValdron, Alton B. Paull. 

Decoration — Herman H. Hathaway, Chairman; Nathaniel Pope, Joseph K. 
Nye, Harry E. Dodge. 

Location of Meeting — John H. Howland, Chairman; Edward G. Spooner, 
Mrs. Georti;e VV. Stevens. 

History of Town — James L. Gillingham, Chairman ; Eewis S. Jndd, (ieorge II. 
'I'ripp, Cyrus D. Hunt. 

Finance — Walter F. Winsor, Chairman; George B. TiUther, Mrs. Horace K. 
Nye. 

Banquet — Lewis F. Shurtlefl', Chairman; Daniel W. Deane, Lyman C. Bauldry, 
Mrs. David T. Hathaway, Mrs. Elbridge G. Morton, Jr. 

Antiquarian — Mis. Edmund Anthony, Jr., Chairman; Miss Lydia M. Church, 
Miss M. Annie Tripp, Miss Maria F. Tripp, Mrs. John L. Clarke, Mrs. 
George W. Stevens. 

Children — Frank M. Marsli, Chairman; Miss Sara B. Clarke, Miss M. Louise 
Norris, Mrs. Frank H. Church. 



OBJECT OF ASSOCIATION 

By-Laws, Article II. *'The object of this Association is to promote the 
welfare of the town by increasing the intei-est in the town among former 
residents." 

MEMBERSHIP 

By-Laws, .Vrticle III. "All people now living in town, or former resi- 
dents thereof, arc m<'nil)oi-s of this Association without further action."' 




FORT PHOENIX, irjTERIOR, IN 1903 




IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION BATH HOUSES, NEAR FORT 



CONTENTS 



PREFACE . . . . ■ . . . . Page 3 

ORGANIZATION OF OLD HOME WEEK ASSOCIATION . Page 5 

Chapter I 
EARLY HISTORY ....... Page 9 

By J. L. GiLLINGHAM 

Chapter II 
CIVIC HISTORY Page 19 

By J. L. GiLLINGHAM 

Chapter III 
RELIGIOUS HISTORY ...... Page 37 

By Lewis S. Juud 

Chapter IV 
COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL HISTORY . . Page 53 

By Cyrus D. Hunt 

Chapter V 
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY ..... Page 87 

By George H. Tripp 



CHAPTER I 

EARLY HISTORY 

By J. L. GILLINGHAM 



TOURING the reign of Queen Elizabeth in May, 1602, when 
^-^ Bartholomew Gosnold and his voyagers entered among the 
circle of islands which protected the bay from the tempest- 
uous ocean they had crossed, and sailing upon the smooth waters 
he called "GosnokVs Hope" entered the mouth of the Acushnet 
(quiet water) river between the low headlands of Clark's Neck 
and Sconticut Neck, they beheld a scene of natural beauty, of 
bright waters, meadow and running brook, grove and forest 
which merited the name, given to it a century and a half later, 
of FairJmven. 

Sailing northward, along the eastern shore, were to be seen 
the slopes of the Neck extending into the ba}', across the rocks 
of Angelico, where later grew the Indian corn cultivated by the 
white man, and the bluff at the point was crowned with a grove 
of cedar, surrounding the never failing s])ring of water in the 
basin on the rock, which spring still remains; near ])y was the 
steep bluff, whose surface in after years became a fabled spot of 
hiding of the treasure of Captain Kidd, while at its northern 
base the sparkling waters of Winsagansett creek joined the 
Acushnet ; on the north shore of the cove the sandy beach was 
broken where WesquauKjuesset (crooked) creek allowed the tide 
coursing into Herring river, to return into the bay; westward 
along the line of marsh, sandy beach, and around the rocky point 



10 



of Nolscot the inner harbor opened to view. Here the upland 
sloped gradually to the east with meadows and groves of oak, 
cedar and pine. Near half the way from Nolscot point to the 
marshes a little creek entered the river. From this cieek, the 
land rose steadily until the rocky eminence, of the Meeting 
House Hill of later days, was reached. From the marshes on 
the river front the ascent of this hill was steep. Along the line 
of the shore at the foot of the hill the marshes extended north- 
ward, to and around the outlet of the stream, in colonial days 
called Herring river ; and still northward to the Point were 
marshes beyond which lay a succession of uplands and lowlands. 
From the waters of the Isle of Marsh rose the rocky cliff, com- 
panion of the rock of Nolscot. Around the Isle of Marsh the 
river crept northward until lost in the forest. This land the 
Indians called Sconticut. 

The reception of the visitors by the natives was friendly and 
hospitable, as one of the voyagers wrote of their visit that 
Gosnold was met by "men, women and children, Avho with all 
courteous kindness entertained him, giving him skins of wild 
beasts, tobacco, turtles, hemp, artificial strings coloured, and 
such like things as they had about them." 

The report of this visit must have l)ecome widely known, 
and the Pilgrims at Plymouth knew well of the I'ertile meadows, 
the wooded shores, the quiet waters abounding in tish, and the 
land-locked harl)or with deep channel. 

At the December session of the general court in 1639 some 
of the "old comers" among the Pilgrims made known their selec- 
tion of plantations for themselves. Among the selections made 
was one, designated as "the second place," which included the 
locality called by the Indians "Sconticut," and then occupied by 
them under their chief Wesame(|uen, known to the Pilgrims as 
Mttssasoit. 

On November 29, 1652, AVesamequen, and his son Wamsutta, 
at New Plymouth executed a deed of "all the tract or tracts of 



11 

land lyiiic? tiu'ee miles eastward froai a river called Cushenagg, 
to a certain harbor called Acoaksett, to a flat rock on the west- 
ward side of the said harl)or" ****** "with all the 
rivers, creeks, meadows, necks and islands that lie in or before 
the same, and from the sea upward to go so high that the English 
may not l)e annoyed by the hunting of the Indians, in any sort 
of their cattle. And I, Wesamequen and Wamsutta do promise 
to remove all the Indians within a year from the date hereof that 
do live in said tract." 

This deed was signed l)y John Cooke and John Winslow, 
and Wamsutta made his mark to the same. 

The conveyance was made to Governor William Bradford 
and others who were designated as "the purchasers or old- 
comers." It was later divided into thirty-four shares. 

The land conveyed included the territory now known as 
Westport, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Acushnet and Fairhaven. 

In the year 1650, John Russell settled in Dartmouth at 
llussell Mills. In 1664 he purchased the thirty-fourth share 
owned l)y Capt. Miles Standish in the lands, bought of Massasoit. 
John Cooke, the l)oy who came over in the Mayflower in 1620, 
who signed the deed of purchase and was the owner of one 
thirty-fourth part, settled on the east side of the Acushnet river, 

at Oxford. 

On June 8, 1664, Dartmouth, then known as Ponagansett, 
Westport, known as Coaksett and New Bedford, Acushnet and 
Fairhaven, known as Acushena, were incorporated as the town 
of Dartmouth. By the act of June 3, 1668, the bounds of this 
township were established. 

The first representative from the town of Dartmouth to the 
General Court at Plymouth was John Russell, of Dartmouth ; 
and the first representative to this General Court, living in that 
part of Dartmouth now known as Fairhaven, was John Cooke. 
Russell and Cooke were the only representatives from Dart- 
mouth for more than twenty years. 



12 



The township of Dartmouth suffered great loss of life and 
destruction of property during King Philip's war, and in 1G75 
was destroyed. 

As a place of refuge and defence the settlers of the township 
had constructed three garrisons or wooden forts. Russell's gar- 
rison was on the north side of the Ap[)onagansett river ; one 
garrison was on Palmer's island in the Acushnet river ; and 
Cooke's garrison was at Oxford village on the north side of 
Coggeshall street. 

The settlers had also built block houses to which they might 
retreat in different parts of the township. Henry Sampson was 
one of the original proprietors of the grant from the Indians and 
at one time owned all of the land situated south of the location of 
the tracks of the Old Colony Railroad, extending southerly to the 
sea, and easterl}^ f roni the river to crooked creek. By the shore 
of this tract, and near the location of the Beacon for many years 
were the remains of an old fort that had done service in the 
Indian wars. One of these block houses was built in 1G53 on 
Sconticut Neck near the Mattapoisett Road, and near the log 
house of Thomas Pope, and not far distant from his grist mill. 
It was while seeking to reach Cooke's garrison from the settle- 
ment on Sconticut Neck in 1G75 that a man and woman by the 
name of Pope were murdered by the Indians near the frog pond, 
at the present location of the south side of Spring street, west of 
Walnut street. At this time the house of John Cooke, situated 
a little to the south of the present Oxford schoolhouse, was de- 
stroyed. John Cooke died in 1695, and his grave at Oxford has 
lately been marked by a boulder, taken from the bed of the 
Acushnet and now bearing u[)on its polished face a bronze 
tablet. 

For many years after the death of King Philip in 1G76 the 
settlers had peace. 

On Novcml)er 13, 1G1)4, William Bradford, the deputy 
governor, conveyed by deed the lands acquired by Governor 



13 

William Bradford from Massasoit. Many of the proprietors of 
the land acquired by this deed settled within the limils of the 
present town of Fairhaven. 

The colonists for many years did little more than clear away 
the forest, cultivate the soil, and build their homes and their 
vessels from the timber they cut upon their land. They were 
farmer-sailors, equally at home upon land or water. 

Thomas Taber, one of the purchasers from William Brad- 
ford, also received by deed from his father-in-law, John Cooke, 
Nov. 8, 1682, one sixth part of one share of the land bouo;ht 
from Massasoit, and became one of the largest land owners with- 
in the present town limits. His house having been burned by 
the Indians in 1675 he built a stone house, located to the west 
of the road afterward known as Adams street. The massive 
chimney of this house was standing until a short time ago. In 
1700 Philip Taber, son of Thomas Taber, sold to William Wood 
the tract of land from North street to Spring street, and from 
Adams street to the river, including within its bounds his home- 
stead . 

January 6, 1725, a way, four rods wide, was laid out from 
the bridge at the head of the river, past the "Meeting house 
green," at the Parting Ways, to the Rochester line. 

Up to this time only forest paths connected the settlements, 
at Sconticut Neck, Naskatucket and Rochester, with the one at 
and around the Head of the River. February 25, 1728, a road 
was laid out from the southwest corner of Susannah Hathaway's 
orchard, now known as Dahl's corner, the dividing line between 
Acushnet and Fairhaven, and passing south past the wolf's hole 
at the side of the road now to the south of Woodside cemetery, 
and the shop of Thomas Nye, which formerly stood at the angle 
of the road north of the residence of Edward A. Dana, to the 
brook near the residence of Zeruiah Wood, north of the present 
Huttleston avenue. 

It was near the east line of this road, a little south of the 



14 



present Oxford schoolhouse, and near the well by the road that 
the house of John Cooke was once located, and upon the site of 
which another house was l)uilt and afterwards known as the 
Bartholomew West house. 

March 30, 1730, a road was laid out from near the residence 
of Capt. Lemuel Pope down Sconticut Neck, for a distance of 
nearly a mile and a half. This road connected with the Head of 
the River road, which passing the orchard of Susannah Hathaway 
connected with the Rochester road at the Parting Ways. The 
date of the layout of the Head of the River road is not definitely 
known l)ut was probably between the years of 1725 and 1728. 

March 7, 1736, a road was laid out from the residence of 
Ca})t. Lemuel Pope westward to the driftway that led from Isaac 
Pope's to Henry Sampson's farm and homestead. This road 
followed nearly the present course of Spring street, east of 
Rotch street to Washington street, and the driftway followed a 
southwesterly course to near Green street on Centre street, 
then west and south, along the present Green street, across the 
present location of the railroad; and through this farm woods 
roads led to the shores on the west and south. This Henry 
Sampson, the descendent of the Pilgrim "old-comer" of the same 
name, was improvident and having mortgaged his farm in sec- 
tions finally sold it entire to John Macy in discharge of his debt 
June 23, 1744. March 26, 1745, a road was laid out from near 
Benjamin Blossom's at Naskatucket, and passing north and north- 
westerly connected with the Rochester road on the north of the 
Friends' meeting house, and near to the Parting Ways. A jiart 
of this road has been discontinued and a part is now known as 
the New Boston Road, which is connected with the north part of 
the old layout by a new layout. 

Such was the settlement and development of this part of the 
townshi}) of Dartmouth when Oct. 20, 1760, Elnathan Pope con- 
veyed to Noah AlU^n tw(>nty acres of land from the railroad on 
the south to the north line of the bluff about half the distance be- 




GARRISON LANE 



15 



tween Spring and Washinoton streets, and from the nver 
east to a line one half the distance between William and Mam 
streets. Upon this tract the older part of the village ^vas laid 
out, and it was called "Fairhaven." 

On Dec. 12, 17(30, William Wood deeded to Elnathan 
Eldridge a tract of six acres (.f land at the Point, and it was called 
Oxford. The try works and oil sheds at the southeast corner of 
the Oxford purchase were reserved from this conveyance. This 
deed conveyed all the land west of the east line of Cherry street 
and south of North street. At the southwest corner of the twenty 
acre purchase were also located tiy kettles. The members of 
both settlements were engaged in the whale tishery. Communi- 
cation between the upper and lower villages was had by the 
driftway up Centre street to the way leading past Elnathan 
Pope's dwelling house, near the present southeast corner of 
Rotch and Spring streets, and eastward to the Head ot the 
River road, and by the road leading to Zeruiah Wood's, and by 
Bread and Cheese lane (North street) to the Pomt at Oxford. 

At the beginning of the revolutionary war the settlers turned 
their attention^to privateering with evident success. A success 
which brought disaster to the township on both sides of the 
Acushnet river in 1778. May 30, 1765, Joseph Rotch had 
boucrht from Elnathan Pope, the eighty-six acres of land lying 
between the twenty-acre purchase of Noah Allen on the west, 
Summer street on the east. Spring street on the north and the 
railroad location on the south. The deed contained the fol- 
lowing. -Always excepting ye driftway that goes through the 
same from my house to Caleb Churche's, and ye open way that 
ooesfromye Driftway to ye Town lot; also a Driftway trom 
where ye old worchouse formerly stood to one of ye ways in 
ye Town lot." No development of the tract had been made 
prior to 1790, when the proprietors of the twenty-acre purchase 
laid out Main, Middle, Centre, Union, AVater and Washington 
streets within their tract. 



16 



In the early part of 1775, the erection of a fort was begun at 
Nolscot point by the company of Continentals under conniiand of 
Capt. Benjamin Dillingham, and it was two years in building. 
In 1778 the fort had eleven iron cannon, mounted, a well sup- 
plied magazine, and a garrison of thirty two men under com- 
mand of Capt. Timothy Ingrahani. 

This fort, until after the attack of the British in 1778 was 
without a name. Seeking to destroy the shipping in the harbor, 
two frigates of the Biitish fleet under command of Major-General 
Gray, sailed into the harbor on Saturday, September 5, 1778, and 
landed troops on the New Bedford shore, at Clarks Cove. 
These troops, destroying the fort which had two cannon, 
mounted on Clarks Neck, and I)urning and sacking^ the village 
of Bedford as they passed north by the County road to the 
Head of the River, continued down on the Fairhaven side, 
burning and destroying property as they went, and came to 
the site of the John Cooke house where then stood the house 
of Bartholomew West. Ilefusing to assist the feeble old man 
from his bed to a place of safety they set fire to the house, 
having first pillaged it of all valuables and taking with them 
the now famous West Bible. It seems an unmerited reward 
for her heroism that the faithful servant, Hannah Sogg, who 
carried Mr. West from the burning building should herself 
thirty-four years later be one of the poor whom the town 
of Fairhaven should receive in charge from the town of New 
Bedford. 

After destroying the store and the schoolhouse and the 
house of Zeruiah Wood the troops passed down to Sconticut 
Neck, and the last house they visited was that of John West, 
whose son-in-law, Achus Sisson, was a strong tory, but at that 
time had fled to the British provinces. The house was s})ared, 
although the farm was i)lundcred, and more than a century 
afterwards the house still stood ; only the chimney now remains. 

On Sunday evening, September 6, 1778, the troops landed 




CHIMNEY OFJOHN 

(.HOUSE SPARED BY BRITISH 



WEST HOUSE. SCONTICUT NECK 
IN RAID OF 1778) 



17 



on the Fairhaven shore north of the fort, and began to destroy 
the vilhige They \vere met l)y several hundred minutemen 
under command of Maj. Isi'ael Fearing, and put to flight. As 
they retreated they visited the fort, which had been abandoned 
by the militia on the landing of the British, and burned the 
barracks, spiked and overturned the cannon from their carriages 
and broke off their trunnions, and completely dismantled the fort. 
The fort was speedily rebuilt, as on May 19, 1780, "the dark 
day," the fort had been restored and was then garrisoned with 
one hundred Continentals. For the bravery of their commander 
the fort was called Fort Fearing. How long this name remained 
is not known as in the deed from Jethro Allen to AVilliam 
Russell, March 2, 1784, in the description is included the state- 
ment "of the point called Nolscot on which Fort Phoenix now 
stands". The closing of the w^ar soon brought prosperity to all 
the villao;es on the Acushnet. 

February 23, 1787, the town of New Bedford was set off 
from Dartmouth, and included the present towns of Acushnet 
and Fairhaven and the city of New Bedford. In 1795 the 
villages of Fairhaven and Oxford were connected by a bridge 
across Herring river and the layout of Main street north to North 
street. In 1796 the old toll bridge between New Bedford and 
Fairhaven, crossing Fish island and Popes island was built. 
After its construction Fairhaven village gained more rapidly than 
Oxford. This bridge was partially destroyed in 1807 and was 
then rebuilt in a more substantial manner. 

In April, 1798, was formed the association which I)uilt the 
Fairhaven Academy building on Main street, and in which the 
most important school in the town was conducted until 1836. 

Political differences between the citizens of New Bedford 
and Fairhaven had reached such a condition that the strong sup- 
porters of Thomas Jefferson on the Fairhaven side sought separ- 
ation ; which, though strongly opposed in the General Court, 



If 



resulted in the incorporation of the town of Fairhaven February 
22, 1812, and included the town of Acushnet. 

This victory of the "Corsicans," as the tory element in New 
Bedford derisively called the citizens of Fairhaven, was duly 
celebrated by the first authentic celebration of Fourth of July. 
The day was celebrated at the Head of the liiver, by the reading 
of the Declaration of Independence, singing of an ode composed 
by Lieut. Henry Whitman, U. S. Navy, an oration by James L. 
Hodges, Esq., of Taunton, delivered at the meeting house, and 
followed by a dinner at Amos Pratt's tavern, near the Head of 
the River bridiie. 




FORT PHOENIX IN 1865 




FORT PHOENIX, EXTERIOR, IN 1903 




FORT PHOENIX, INTERIOR, IN 1903 



CHAPTER II 

CIVIC HISTORY 

By J. L. GILLINGHAM 



^ I ^HE early years of the new town of Fairhaven were filled 
-■- with events which checked rapid development. 

June 18, 1812, Congress had declared war against Great 
Britain. Soon the news arrived that on August 6, 1812, the 
brig "Wasp," of Fairhaven, on a voyage to Liverpool, had been 
captured by the British cutter "Earl Spencer," taken as a prize 
to Cork, and the crew sent as prisoners to Plymouth, England. 
This was war. Fairhaven prepared to act its part. The first 
act was to raise troops. In September, 1812, a company of 
regular militia was formed, with John Alden, Jr., as Captain, 
and a company of volunteers was also formed, with Joseph Bates, 
Sr., as Captain. 

A mud fort, mounting six guns, was built on Love liocks, 
the ledge lately to the south of Fort street, with the barracks to 
the west near the cedar grove. It was garrisoned by the "Sea 
Fencil)les," with William Gordon as Captain. On the rock of 
Meeting House Hill, now blown awa}' that Centre street may 
connect Main and William streets, were mounted two cannon. 
Under the old Congregational Church, now PhaMiix Hall, the 
south entrance was used as a magazine. The United States 
garrison at Fort Phoenix was active in [)utting everything in 
order to defend the harbor, as this fort was the tower of strength 
to which the citizens on both sides of the river looked. Alonjj 



20 



Clarks Cove and around the shores of Clarks Point were sta- 
tioned the vokinteer company from the Head of the River, 
commanded by Captain Reuben Swift. Recruiting offices were 
opened at Pratt's tavern at the Head of the River, at the garri- 
son at the fort, and on Water street in the village. In 1814 the 
fear of invasion had grown so strong that at a town meeting held 
August 2, 1814, the sum of $1,200 was voted to be raised, "for 
the payment of additional wages allowed the drafted and enlisted 
militia of said town, and other expenditures of defence." 
Nathaniel Stetson, a citizen of the town, resisted the imposition 
of a tax of $14.31 against his property for such a purpose, and 
as the collector sold the chaise and harness of the delinquent 
taxpayer, he appealed to the Courts for redress and ol)tained it 
by having the Court in July, 1816, declare that under the laws 
as they then existed, "To give additional wages, in order to 
encourage such as may be drafted, may evince the sense of 
danger, and the patriotism of a town ; but it docs not fall within 
any duty imposed by law, and it is not certain that it could 
produce any valuable end," and that the levy made was illegal. 
As a result of this decision regarding the tax levy of the year 
1814, at the annual town meeting held April 7, 1817, it was 
voted "to refund the Avhole of the county and town taxes for the 
year 1814 to each individual that has paid the same, together 
with all legal expenses that has occurred in collecting the same," 
and "that the collector is to discontinue collecting the county 
and town tax for the year 1814." On September 28, 1814, the 
local militia had l)een increased by the addition of 500 soldiers 
from the towns in the north part of the county, who were sta- 
tioned along the coast line. These preparations to resist the 
enemy were effectual and Fairliaven did not suffer from invasion, 
but from the loss of its shipping, captured as [)rizes, and the 
blockading of its port prevented the carrying on of its commerce 
and tisheries. 

Besides the Act of June 17, 179G, authorizing the Iniilding 




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21 

of a toll bridge ovor the Acushnet river, on June 22, 1804, an- 
other Act was passed incorporating Samuel Borden and others 
as "The Proprietors of Crow Island Bridge," and "empowered to 
erect a Bridge from the easterly side of Crow Island, in Acush- 
net river, aforesaid, to Fairhaven village, in the town of New 
Bedford aforesaid, a few feet south of the dwelling of the widow 
Elizabeth Adams, to the land of the said Samuel Borden." This 
bridge was "to have a draw of at least twenty-eight feet in 
width, which draw shall be raised up for all vessels without toll 
or pay, during day light in each day." 

In 1811 a street was laid out from AVater street to the 
bridge which led to the Rope Walk on Crow Island. This street 
is known as Eldridge's lane. 

November 13, 1803, a road was laid out from opi)osite the 
house of John Taljer, the late residence of George H. Taber, 
easterly to Boston Hill. This road is often called the Mill road 
as it led to the grist mill at Naskatucket near the present pump- 
ing station. 

In 1814 Joseph Whelden, for many years one of the Select- 
men of Fairhaven, and a representative in the General Court, 
built a stone cotton factory on the Acushnet river, about a mile 
north of the mill-dam of the grist and saw mill located above the 
Head of the River bridge. For a number of years tiie town, at 
its meetings, voted that the highway tax on Whelden, Swift & 
Company's factory be permitted to be laid out for the private 
way leading to said factory. The walls of this factory are still 

standing. 

June 15, 1815, a small part of the town of Freetown was an- 
nexed to Fairhaven, including the lands of Paul Spooner and 
Seth Spooner. 

September 23, 1815, the great gale and accompanying high 
tide did great damage to property in Fairhaven. 

The toll bridge between New Bedfonl and Fairhaven was 
swept away. The bridge to, and the Rope Walk ui)()n Crow 



22 



Island were destroyed. The building containing the records of 
the town from February 22, 1812 was swept from the wharf and 
the records destroyed. The ])ridge across Herring river forming 
a part of Main street was also })artially destroyed. The shore 
line was changed in many places by the terrific waves, "An- 
o-eleco," near the south-west end of Sconticut Point, which Jethro 
Delano had allowed the Indians of Sconticut to cultivate until in 
1776 he divided his farm, consisting of all of the southerly part 
of the Neck, among his children, and which tract his grandsons, 
Henry and Charles Delano, had })lowed and planted in the spring 
of 1815, was washed into the sea and virtually destroyed. 

So great was the damage to proj)erty from this gale that at 
a town meeting held May 11, 1816, it was voted: "To choose a 
committee to concur with the town of New Bedford in petition- 
ing the Legislature of this Commonwealth for an allowance in 
taxes in consequence of damages sustained in the gale and tide 
of Sept. last past." 

No relief is reported to have l)een given by the Legislature. 

After the disasters of the war and the gale had been re- 
covered from, the town entered upon a period of steady growth 
and prosperity. Roads and streets were laid out, industries 
multiplied and the wealth of the citizens steadily increased. 

Mav 13, 1820, Spring street was laid out from Adams street 
to Main street. The conunittee chosen to purchase a small farm 
for the acconunodation of the poor May 15, 1824, reported to the 
town meeting that they had "purchased a small place of Noah 
Spooner for the sum of five hundred and forty eight dollars and 
twenty five cents." 

March 19, 1827, the committee a|)[)()intcd to report to the 
town the number of families in each school district, and the es- 
timated valuation of the pro})erty in the districts reported the 
number of families as being 5(57, and the valuation of the prop- 
erty as $49l),!>91. The number of residents of the town at this 
time was not reported. 




DC 



23 

The centre of the stone bridge at the Head of the Kiver was 
on the dividino- line l)etween New Bedford and Fairhaven. May 
19, 1828, the town meeting voted, "To raise the sum of three 
hundred dollars to purchase a lot for a public burying ground, 
and defray the expense of building the one half of a stone bridge 
across the Head of the River, provided the town of New Bedford 
will join and build their half of said bridge." 

At the same meeting it was voted "To accept the report of 
the selectmen and purchase a lot for a public burying ground of 
Enoch S. Jenney on the east side of the road leading by and 
between the house of Noah Spooner's and James Tripp, con- 
taining al)()ut one acre more or less, at the rate of seventy-tive 
dollars per acre."' 

The bridge at the Head of the River was built, although 
later action by the town became necessary as the appropriation 
was exceeded. 

In 1832 the report of the School District Committees shows 
the number of families to have increased to 642. July 20, 1832, 
the old way, beginning sixty rods east of the meeting house, 
near the corner of Centre and Laurel streets, and running north- 
easterly to the road near Seth Alden's woods, was laid out. 
This way has been discontinued, but for that time made more 
accessible Sconticut Neck and the towns to the eastward. 

June 9, 1832, were laid out Washington and Union streets, 
from Main to Green street, William street from Spring street 
to the old burying ground, Walnut and Green streets from 
Spring street to the south line of William Rotch's land. The 
Green street layout included, in part, Wrightington's driftway 
or lane. This driftway was the old way to Henry Sampson's, 
and later to Caleb Church's farm, and to his homestead, which 
afterwards was owned by Richard Wrightington. This driftway, 
or lane, continued south to the homestead of Silvanus Allen. 

March 18, 1831, the "President, Directors and Company of 
the Fairhaven Bank,'' was incorporated, with a capital stock of 



24 



$100,000. April 9, 1836, the capital was increased to $200,000. 
May 2, 1849, the charter was extended to January 1, 1870. 
This State Bank is now chartered under the National Banking 
Act as the "Xational Bank of Fairhaven." 

March 16, 1831, the "Fairhaven Insurance Company" was 
incorporated with a capital of $100,000. With the decline of 
whaling this company went out of existence. 

February 10, 1832, the "Fairhaven Institution for Savings" 
was incorporated, and still continues a successful existence. 

March 8, 1832, the "Proprietors of the New Bedford and 
Fairhaven Ferry" was incorporated. This corporation long since 
ceased to exist, but the New York, New Haven and Hartford 
Eailroad Company now continue the ferry service established by 
the original company. 

April 9, 1836, a small part of Rochester was annexed to 
Fairhaven and the bounds between the two townships esta1)lished. 

The palmy days of whaling, and its accompanying indus- 
tries, continued uninterrupted from 1830 until 1857, when 
financial disaster overtook the community, and the approach of 
portending civil conflict gave little promise of the return of its 
former principal industry. 

In 1854 the Fairhaven Branch Railroad had been constructed 
from Fairhaven to Treniont, there connecting with the main line 
to Boston. 

In 1858 the town house, built by the town for the holding 
of town meetings and located north of Woodside Cemetery, on 
the east side of North Main street, was destroyed by tire. The 
spirit of dissatisfaction then existing between the citizens at the 
Head of the River, where in the early years of the townshi}) had 
resided the greater number of the citizens, and those who lived 
in the lower village, resulted in the separation of the communi- 
ties by the incorporation of the portion of the town north of 
Dahl's Corner as the town of Acushnet, February 13, 1860. 

In another cha})ter are reviewed the industrial interests 




SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MONUMENT 
AT RIVERSIDE CEMETERY 



25 



which have had existence in the town, and those which now give 
employment to its citizens. The recovery from the depression, 
disaster and sorrows of the Civil War was slow. The town had 
paid freely with its manhood and its treasure to maintain the 
Union and perpetuate freedom. To the memory of its heroes 
it erected, in 1867, a monument in granite in the beautiful 
Riverside Cemetery, which had been given to the town by 
Warren Delano, and dedicated July 7, 1850, as a public place of 
burial. 

The Roll of Honor, whose patriotism and memory this shaft 
commemorates, now bears the names of : 



Bart Akiu. 
Frederick B. Allen. 
William C. Ashley. 
Charles H. Austin. 
Henry L. Bosworth. 
Thomas II. Bowen. 
Sylvaniis Baker. 
Alexander J. Brown. 
William H. Burgess. 
William L. Butman. 
William T. Butman. 
Joseph Bates. 
James Besse. 
L. M. Bowen. 
William W. Carsley. 
Joseph S. Caswell. 
Warren R. Clark. 
Elisha Copelaud. 
George H. Copeland. 
Benjamin F. Cowen. 
William J. Cowell. 
William P. Cowie. 
Thomas Crowell. 
Nathan C. Coburn. 
Joseph M. Clark. 
Jonathan E. Cowen. 
James Dawes, War of 1S12. 
Edward F. Damon. 
Edward II. Dillingham. 



Lewis A. Drew. 
John J. Duffy. 
James Davis, War of 1812. 
Charles F. Eldredge. 
Edward Eldridge. 
Barnabas Ewer, Jr. 
Iliram B. Ellis. 
William li. Elliot. 
Dr. Isaac Fairchild. 
John A. Fitch. 
Ira Gerrish. 
Eben W. Godfrey. 
Ebenezer B. Hathaway. 
John A. HaAves. 
Waltei- F. Howlaud. 
Charles W. Hyde. 
William A. Haskins. 
William II. Haskins. 
Ansel Hitch. 
Charles N. Jeuney. 
Simpson Jenney. 
.Jonathan Jenney. 
James F. Jones. 
Capt. Francis Kempton. 
Alfred C. King. 
Benjamin W. Kempton. 
Oliver LaiJiam, Jr. 
Leonard Luther. 
Samuel L. Marvel. 



26 



Charles H. Macomber. 

Augustus Maj'o. 

Charles I.. Morse. 

Oliver Meudall. 

James Merrihew. 

Harvey C. Morse. 

William C. Nye. 

Alvin H. Paine. 

Ebenezer Parsons, Jr. 

Phiueas Peckham. 

Andrew T. Perry. 

William B. Purringtou. 

Benjamin T. Randall. 4 

George F. Rogers. 

Amos Rogers, Jr. 

John Roderick. Revolutionarj' AVar. 

Barney Rail. 

George H. Richards. 

G. Sidney Sampson. 

Benjamin B. Sampson. 

John P. Sears. 

W. W. Sekell. 

Thomas F. Shaw. 

Abisha Shaw. 

Charles D. Sherman. 

Samuel T. Spooner. 

Francis H. Stoddard. 

Henry Steel. 

William J. Steel. 

Oliver Swain. 



Freeman F. Snow. 
William T. Swift. 
Albert Shaw. 
Loring P. Taber. 
William D. Taber. 
Henry W. Tal)er. 
Joseph B. Taber, Jr. 
Granville W. Taber. 
John M. Thompson. 
Elbridge B. Townsend. 
Amos S. Tripp. 
Eben R. Tripp. 
Horace P. Tripp. 
William Tripp, War of 1812. 
AV. A. Tripp. 
Jesse A. Warner. 
William B. Waterson. 
Rev. Israel Washburn. 
John Weeden, War of 1812. 
Lemuel C. Wood, Jr. 
William A. West. 
John Williams. 
John A. Williams. 
Caleb J. Wood. 
Lemuel C. Wood. 
Charles D. Wrightington. 
William Webb, War of 1812. 
Oscar F. Wixon. 
Alden Davis. 
Joshua Wilkie. 



From the great gale of September 8, 1869, the citizens 
suffered severe damage in property along the ^vater front. The 
New Bedford and Fairhaven Bridge was for the third time almost 
totally destroyed, and for a long time during its reconstruction 
was impassable. To this time it had been maintained by a 
private corporation as a toll bridge. On the completion of 
reconstrilction in 1870 it was made a free highway bridge, and 
was thereafter to be maintained hy the City of New Bedford and 
Town of Fairhaven. 

In 1872, the New Bedford and Fairhaven Street Railway 



27 

Company beo:an the construction of its line across the bridge to 
the depot of the Okl Colony Railroad in Fairhaven. Later the 
line was extended to the south end of Fort street, and to River- 
side cemetery on North Main street. In 1894, the motive power 
was changed from horses to electricity. 

The tirst newspaper printed in Fairhaven was the "Bristol 
Gazette." The publication of this paper was begun in New 
Bedford in October, 1808, as tlie "Ohl Colony Gazette." In 1811, 
the name was altered to the "New Bedford Gazette." In 1812, 
the name was again changed to the "Bristol Gazette." Joseph 
Gieason, Jr., the publisher of the paper from 1810, holding 
strono- Jeffersonian views of government made the issues of his 
papei"unacceptal)le to the large proportion of Federalists in New 
Bedford, and in 1812 removed the publication of his paper to 
Fairhaven to gain the patronage of the many Democrats who 
resided there. In the issue of February 5, 1813. Mr. Gieason 
announces that, by reason of his appointment in the United 
States army, he has relinquished the publication of the i)aper to 
Paul Tal)er. The i)ublication of the paper ceased after July 10, 

1813. 

On Fel>ruary 18, 1879, the "Star" was first published by 
Charles D. Waldron, at his home on Oxford street. This minia- 
ture four page newspaper, of 8 1-2 inches by 12 inches pages, 3 
columns to a page, was increased in size in May, 1879, by the 
addition of another column to the page and adding two inches to 
its length. During the first year of its existence it was enlarged 
three times. The i-uccess of the "Fairhaven Star" has been con- 
stant and permanent. Courteously but positively declining to 
publish any matter, either as advertisement or connnunication, 
which may be questionable in its character, or injurious in effect, 
its publisher set a high standard of reliability and has maintained 
it. The constant evidence of success of the local newspaper has 
been a source of pride to the citizens, for a community without a 
progressive newspaper is lacking in au essential element of civic 



28 

development. Mr. Waldron has faithfully lived up to the motto 
he so long ago set at the head of the editorial column, "Push 
Fairhaven." The publication of the paper was soon removed to 
a small building on the west side of Main street, near the corner 
of Centre street, which was entirely occupied for that purpose. 
The paper has been increased in size to four pages of 19 1-2 by 
26 inches, and is published weekly. In August, 1902, it was 
installed in its new quarters in the "Star Building," on the west 
side of South Main street, near the corner of Ferry street. 

In 1882, a village improvement association Avas formed, 
and wdiich was incorporated in 1885 as the* "Fairhaven Improve- 
ment Association." Composed of men and women loyally 
devoted to the permanent interests of the town it has done effec- 
tive work in awakening a spirit of emulation among the citizens 
in the care and improvement of their homes and property, and 
from its treasury and by the individual efforts of its members has 
preserved and made attractive many natural features. Throuo-h 
its instrumentality, a drinking fountain was erected at Bridi>e 
square ; the old graveyard at the south end of William street was 
transformed into a pleasant park ; the neglected grave of John 
Cooke was protected and a suitable monument to his memory 
and character was erected. The roadsides and ancient cemeteries 
have been cleared of the encroaching bush and bramble. The 
success of the Bathing Pavilion and beach, conducted for many 
years by the Association on the shore to the west of Privilege 
street, and now and during the past few years as successfully 
maintained at the attractive shore and the clear salt water near 
the Beacon, attest the appreciation of the public. The custody 
of the historic Fort Phaniix having been given by the Federal 
Government to the Association, its preservation and renovation 
has made it an ideal spot for recreation or rest. The shady gar- 
rison lane retains the border of cedars which sheltered the 
defenders of three wars, and the marine view from the rock 
parapet is unsurpassed. 





FAIRHAVEN STAR OFFICE 




STAR'S COMPOSING ROOM 



29 

The present officers of the Association are : President, Thomas 
A. Tripp; Vice President, Drew B. Hall; Secretary, Job C. 
Tripp ; Treasurer, William W. Grossman ; and an Executive 
Committee of thirty memljers. 

In 1892, was completed the bridge across the Acushnet river, 
at Oxford Heights, connecting Coggeshall street in New Bedford 
with a new way laid out from North Main street to the bridge in 
Fairhaven. 

In 1893, the Fairhaven Water Company began the con- 
struction of a system of water works for sup])lying the town 
with water. The hydrant service in time of tire is of sufficient 
pressure to dispense with the use of a lire engine; and the tire 
department service, consisting of two hose companies, hook and 
ladder company, and protecting society, supplemented by an 
electric fire alarm service, furnish an efficient protection to prop- 
erty from fire. 

The good order and security of the community is such that 
no regular police department is required to be maintained. 

In 1895, the Board of Sewer Commissioners was organized, 
and the Shone system of sewerage then under construction was 
completed. This system of sewerage has been consideral)ly 
extended since its introduction, and gravity sewers have also 
been laid in suitable localities. The present Board of Sewer 
Commissioners consists of .Eldridge G. Paull, George T. Thacher 
and Zenas W. Dodge. 

For more than ten years past the New Bedford Gas and 
Edison Light Company has furnished the electric current for 
street lights, public buildings and private residences in the town. 

In 1893, the widening and construction of a new bridge on 
or near the location of the then existing New Bedford and Fair- 
haven Bridge was authorized by an act of the legislature. This 
act has been followed l)y numerous additional acts, and the 
mammoth and magnificent structure, seventy feet in width is 
nearing completion. For the accommodation of the travelling 



30 



public it has been constructed in a manner that but slightly 
interfered with travel. 

The layout of new streets and the extension of older streets 
during the })ast ten years has opened up large sections of the 
town for building purposes, and many new buildings have been 
constructed. 

While the sewerage of the town was satisfactorily taken care 
of by the systems employed, the surface drainage of the highways 
presented a serious problem. In 1890, the town al)andoned the 
system of caring for the highways under the direction of highway 
surveyors, and created the office of Superintendent of Streets. A 
systematic plan for the grading of the streets was adopted, and 
has been followed with success. In 1896, Mr. Henry H. Rogers 
was appointed su[)erintendent of streets, and he api)()inted Mr. 
John I. Bryant as assistant sui)erintendent, and these gentlemen 
still till the same offices. During the past seven years a large 
number of miles of block paved gutters, granite curbed side- 
walks and macadamized road bed have been constructed, and 
more than three miles of block })aved streets have been laid by 
the Union Street Railway Company in accordance with the con- 
ditions of a contract made with the town. 

At the time of the construction of the Coggeshall street 
bridge the portion of the town farm situated to the w-est of North 
Main street, including the Almshouse, was sold. In 1894, the 
town purchased another site, located on the south side of Wash- 
inorton street, at the intersection of the Sconticut Neck road. 
Upon this land in 1894 the town built the present Almshouse, a 
wooden building of two stories in height, and admirably ar- 
ranged for the care and comfort of its inmates. 

The town has been the recii)iont of many benefactions, in 
addition to the water supply and perfectly constructed highways. 

In 1885, it received from Mr. Ileni-y II. Rogers the gift of 
the Rogers School, a substantial structure of brick with terra- 
cotta ornamentation, and a model of school architecture. In 



31 



1893, was received the gift of Anne E. Benjamin, Cara Rooers 
Duff, Mary Huttleston Rogers and Henry H. Rogers Jr., of the 
magnificent Millicent Library, with its treasure of books, in 
memory of their sister, Millicent Gifford Rogers. No more ex_ 
quisite and tasteful memorial edifice could have been desiirned. 
This noble gift has been endowed by Mr. Henry H. Rogers with 
a fund of one hundred thousand dollars deposited with the 
Treasurer of the Comnionwealth, and with ownership of the Fair- 
haven Water Works from which a permanent income is assured. 

From the incorporation of the town in 1812 to 1894 the 
town did not possess any public building for the accounnodation 
of the officers and business affairs of the town. The town meet- 
ings had been held in various places. From 1812 to 1817 they 
were held in the old Methodist Church at the Head of the River, 
from 1818 to 1831 in the old Congregational Church at the Head 
of the River; from 1832 to 1844 in the old Academy building on 
Main street, from 1844 to 1858 in the Town House on North 
Main street, which was built in 1843 and destroyed b}^ fire in 
1858, from 1859 to 1864 in Sawin's Hall on William street, now 
the Advent Church. From 1864 to 1894 they were held in 
Phoenix Hall. In 1894, the town received from Mrs. Abbie P. 
Rogers, the wife of Mr. Henry H. Rogers, the gift of the Town 
Hall, one of the finest speciuiens of civic architecture in New 
England. The exterior is of French Gothic style, the lower por- 
tion of granite, surmounted by a structure of brick, with elab- 
orate ornamentation in terra cotta. The tower is furnished with 
an illuminated clock, and a large bell of deep and mellow tone. 
The lower floor is divided into apartments for the accommodation 
of all the oflicial departments, and a large and admirably ap- 
pointed hall for public meetings is located on the second floor, 
with a smaller hall for general public uses on the lower floor. 

In 1901, the George H. Taber Lodge of Masons was i)re- 
sented by Mr. Henry H. Rogers, the substantial l)uilding, 
containing the magnificently furnished suite of rooms they now 



32 



occupy, as a tribute of affection to the honored man and Mason 
for whom the Lodge was named. This building is a notable 
addition to the [uiblic and private editices in the town. The 
health, as well as the pleasure and convenience of the residents 
has been considered by Mr. Henry H. Rogers, in now adding 
a great physical feature to the possessions of the town by the 
obliteration of Herring river, or the Mill Pond as it has been 
known for many years, and in its place creating an ample park, 
with avenues making access to the surrounding portions of the 
town more convenient. 

The citizens sustain a number of organizations for the as- 
sistance of the poor, the encouragement of education, the pro- 
motion of the business interests of the town, and of athletic 
sports, and the enjoyment of music. Among them may be 
named the Fairhaven Poor Society, Educational Art Club, Fair- 
haven Business Association, Fairhaven Mutual Aid Corporation, 
Fairhaven Veteran Association, Fairhaven Men's Club, the Fair- 
haven and the Atlas Tack Base Ball clubs, the several Cycle 
clubs, and the Fairhaven Band. 

The present popular recreation of golf playing is promoted 
by the Fairhaven Golf club, which was organized in May, 1900. 
In the Spring of 1901, the club secured a lease of the Dexter and 
Taber estates on the west side of North Main street, a little 
south of Riverside Cemetery, and extending to the Acushnet 
river, comprising about 14 acres of rolling land adapted to a golf 
course of six holes, which was laid out by David Findlay, the 
golf professional. These links are considered very sporty and a 
fair natural course. During the present season of 1903, the Club 
has added 3 tennis courts on the land on the east side of North 
Main street, opposite to the links. During the season of 1902, 
Mr. Dexter built for the Club a delightfully located Club House 
on the top of Dolly Hill, where formerly stood the old grist 
wind-mill, overlooking the entire course, and commanding a fine 
view of the Acushnet river. The Club is sustained by a con- 



33 



stantly increasing membership, now numl)ering 100, with annual 
dues of five doHars. Throuii'h the interest and gifts of Mrs. 
J. B. Rhodes, of New Bedford, the Club House has been prettily 
furnished. Mrs. Rhodes has also given to the Club an elegant 
silver cup, as a Club Trophy to be annually competed for ])y the 
lady members of the club. This trophy was won and is now 




TROPHY CUP 

held by Mrs. Pxlgar R. Lewis, of New Bedford. The present 
officers are: President, Edward B. Gray; Vice President, 
William B. Gardner; Secretary and Treasurer, Harry L. Pope; 
Directors, Miss Anna B. Winsor, Miss Alice H. Howliind, Miss 
Ethel S. Davis, Mr. H. H. Stanton, Dr. William E. Walker. 



34 



TOWN CLERKS FROM 1812-1903 

1812-17, Levi Jeiiney. 

1817-19, Jabez Taber. 

1819-34, Bartholomew Taber. 

1834-42, Nathaniel Church. 

1842-55, Eben Akiu, Jr. 

1855-75, Tucker Damon, Jr. 

1875-87, Eben Akiu, Jr. 

1887-95, Francis DeP. Tappan. 

1895, Francis W. Tappan. 

1895-03, Charles F. Swift. 

SELECTMEN FROM 1815-1903 

1815-18, James Taber, Joseph Whelden, Bartholomew Akin. 

1819, James Taber, John Atsatt, John Taber. 

1820, James Taber, John Taber, AVarren Delano. 

1821, James Taber, Bartholomew Akin, John Taber. 

1822, James Taber, Bartholomew Akiu, Ansel Allen. 
1823-24, James Taber, Ansel Allen, John Taber. 

1825, James Taber, John Taber, Warren Delano. 

1826-28, James Taber, John Taber, Warren Delano. 

1829-30, Ausel Allen, Gideon Nye, Jabez Taber. 

1831, Ausel Allen, John Taber, Josei^h Whelden. 

1S32-.33, Levi Jeuuey, Gideon Nye, Daniel Davis. 

1834, Daniel Davis, Cyrus E. Clark, Jabez Delano, Jr. 

1835, Daniel Davis, Cyrus E. Clark, William L. B. Gibbs, 

1836, Ansel Allen, Cyrus E. Clark, Daniel Davis. 

1837, Daniel Davis, William L. B. Gibbs, Bartholomew Taber. 

1838, Daniel Davis, Bartholomew Taber, llodolphus W. Dexter. 
1839-40, Ezekiel Sawiu, Gideon Nye, Bartholomew Taber. 

1841, Gideon Nye, Bartholomew Taber, Firman K. Whitwell. 

1842, Cyrus E. Clark, Elbridge G. Morton, Firman R. Whitwell. 

1843, Nathaniel Church, Cyrus E. Clark, Elbridge G. Morton. 

1844, Nathaniel Church, George Mendall, Hhelfel Read. 
1845-50, NathanierC'hurch, Cyrus E. Clark, Ellis Mendall, Jr. 

1851, Cyrus E. Clark, G. II. Taber, Isaac Wood, Jr. 

1852, Nathaniel lliggins, George Mendall, Firman 1{. Whitwell. 

1853, (Jyrus E. Clark, John Terry, Firman R. Whitwell. 

1854, Nathaniel Church, Cyrus E. Clark, Firman 1{. Whitwell. 

1855, Edmund Allen, Charles D. Capeu, Barnabas Ewer, Jr. 

1856, Edmund Alleu, Charles D. Capeu, Henry A. Church. 

1857, Martin L. Eldridge, John A. Hawes, Elbridge G. Mortou. 



35 



1858-59, John A. Hawes, Elbridge G. Morton, Abiel P. Robinson. 

1S60, Jonathan Cowen, John A. Hawes, Elbridge G. Morton. 

1861-1)2, Jonathan Cowen, Kodolphus W. Dexter, Bartholomew Taber. 

1863, Jonathan Cowen, Bartholomew Taber, George H. Taber. 

1864, Edwin R. Almy, Bartholomew Taber, Ellery T. Taber. 
1865-66, Bartholomew Taber, Frederick Taber, Isaiah West. 
1867-68, Reuben Nye, Bartholomew Taber, Isaiah West. 
1869-70, Bartholomew Taber, George H. Taber, Isaiah West. 

1871, Bartholomew Taber, George H. Taber, ^Vi]liam H. Wliitfield. 

1872, Weston Howiaud, George H. Taber, William H. Whitfield. 

1873, Daniel J. Lewis, George H. Taber, William H. Whitfield. 

1874, Daniel J. Lewis, Welcome J. Lawton, George H. Taber. 
1875-76, Welcome J. Lawton, George H. Taber, Arnold G. Tripp. 
1877-78, Daniel W. Deane, George H. Taber, Arnold G. Tripp. 
1879-83, George A. Briggs, Daniel W. Deane, Robert E. Leavitt. 

1884, Daniel W. Deane, Gorham B. Howes, George W. King. 

1885, Daniel W. Deane, George W. King, Frederick C. S. Bartlett. 

1886, George H. Taber, Charles F. Howard, Daniel W. Deane, George 

W. King, Frederick C. 8. Bartlett. 

1887, Lewis S. -ludd, Charles F. Howard, John I. Bryant. 
18S8-89, John I. Bryant, John II. Howiand, William P. Macomber. 
1890, John I. Bryant, Joseph B. Peck, Benjamin P. Tripp. 
1891-92, John I. Bryant, Joseph B. Peek, Eben Akin, Jr. 

1893, John I. Bryant, Eben Akin, Jr., James L. Gillingham. 

1894, James L. Gillingham, Eben Akin, Jr., Daniel W. Deane. 
1S95, Daniel W. Deane, Albert B. Collins, Nathaniel Sears. 
1896-03. John H. Howiand, Charles F. Howard, Walter P. Winsor. 



REPRESENTATIVES FROM 1812-1903 

James Taber. 
James Taber. 
Joseph Tripp. 
Nathaniel S. Spoouer. 
James Taber. 
Joseph Tripp. 
Rowland Gibbs. 
Gideon Nye. 
Joseph Tripp. 
Joseph Tripp. 
Joseph Whelden. 
Warren Delano. 
Joseph Whelden. 
Sampson Perkins. 



1812- 


-14, 


John Hawes. 


1826, 






Nicholas Davis, Jr. 


1827, 






Joseph Tripp. 




1814- 


-16, 


John Delano. 


1828, 


1816- 


■20. 


No representative. 




1820, 




James Taber. 




1821, 




Stephen Merrihew. 


1829, 


1822, 




No re])resentative. 




1823, 




Joseph Tripp. 








James Taber. 


1830, 






Noah Stoddard. 


1831, 


1824, 




No representative. 


1832, 


1825, 




James Taber. 
Stephen Merrihew. 
Joseph Whelden. 





36 



1833, 


Gideon Nye. 


1845, 


1834, 


Ansel Allen. 






Cyrus E. Clark. 


1846-47, 




Samuel Pierce. 




1835, 


Joseph Tripp. 
Ezekiel Sawin. 


1848-50, 




Gideon Nye. 


1851, 


1836, 


Joseph Tripp. 


1852-53, 




William L. B. Gibbs. 


1854, 


1837, 


Cyrus E. Clark. 


1855-57, 


1838, 


Joseph Tripp. 


1858-59, 




Daniel Davis. 


1860-62, 




Gideon Nye. 


1863-65, 


1839, 


John Stoddard. 


1866-67, 


1840, 


Cyrus E. Clark. 


1868-69, 




Elbridge G. Morton. 


1872-73, 




Joseph Tripp. 


1874-75, 


1841, 


Ezekiel Sawin. 


1878-79, 




Gideon Nye. 


1882-83, 


1842, 


Cyrus E. Clark. 


1886, 




Jones Robinson. 


18S7, 


1843. 


Elbrido:e G. Morton. 


1890-91, 




Jones Kobinson. 


1894-95, 


1844, 


Joseph Tripp. 


1900-01, 



Joseph Tripp. 
Ellis Mendall, Jr. 
Nathaniel Church. 
George Mendall. 
George Mendall. 
Isaac Wood, Jr. 
Isaac Wood, Jr. 
Elbridge G. Morton. 
Charles Drew. 
Daniel J. Lewis. 
Martin L. Eldridge. 
Samuel L. Ward. 
Ezekiel Sawin. 
Charles Bryant. 
Lewis S. Judd. 
William II. Whitfield. 
Daniel J. Lewis. 
Elbridge G. Morton. 
Rufus A. Dunham. 
Frederick C. S. Bartlett. 
Robert Bennett. 
.Tames A. Lewis. 
James L. Gillingham. 
Levi M. Snow. 




FAIRHAVEN A L M S H U S E - 1 9 3 




FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 



CHAPTER III 

RELIGIOUS HISTORY 

By lewis S. JUDD 
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 



T?AIRHAVEN was originally a portion of the ancient town of 
■*- Dartmouth, which was incorporated in 1664, and included 
also the present city of New Bedford and towns of Dartmouth, 
Westport and Acushnet. These were the days of the Puritan 
theocracy in New England and the church which was established 
when the Puritan pioneer settled a new town was practically as 
much of a State church as though its members had lived in Ro- 
man Catholic France or had lieen affiliated with the Lutheran 
Church of Germany or the Anglican Church of their former 
home. This state of affairs by no means received placid assent 
throughout New England. On the contrary, in no corner of the 
o;lobe has there been a more seething ferment of intellectual and 
theological controversy than has surged along our w^ave-beat 
shores. The early settlers of old Dartmouth seem to have been 
somewhat at variance with the prevailing religious ideas, for it 
was over thirty years after the incorporation of the town that a 
church of the regular order was established, which was done, 
according to tradition, in 1696, after the town had been des- 
olated by King Philip's War and pointedl}'^ criticised for not 
supporting public worship in the usual way. 



38 

The truth is that probably a considerable portion of the peo- 
ple were Quakers. The church just referred to, was located at 
the Head-of-the-Iiiver, where the Acushnet cemetery now is, and 
to this spot, one of the choicest for miles about for the dreamers 
of a summer's afternoon, where the fathers rest beneath the 
shade of whispering pines, the people of the old colonial days 
tlocked from the region roundabout. It was nearly a century 
later, 1794, that the people of Fairhaven village formed a 
church of their own. In that year was established the Second 
Church of Christ in New Bedford, now the First Congregational 
Church in Fairhaven. At that time New Bedford included Fair- 
haven and Acushnet, these three towns having been set off from 
Dartmouth, and the name "Second Church" is doubtless used to 
distino-uish the church from the old church at the Head-of-the- 
River. The following names were signed to the covenant: 
Lemuel Williams, Benjamin Church, John Alden, Eunice Pad- 
doc, Phoebe Jenne, Abigail Church, Keturah Church, Elizal)eth 
Landers, Bethiah Delano, Sally Alden, liuth Shearman, Patience 
Jenne, Jeremiah Mayhew, Isaac Tom})kins, Abel House, Peggy 
Mayhew, Joseph Damon, Jethro Allen, Henry Jenne, Jo- 
seph Bates, Isaac Wood, Isaac Shearman, Joseph Church, 
Pardon Taber. The original church edifice, an old-fashioned 
building of the New England ty})e, was erected at the same 
time on a rise of ground at what is now the corner of Main 
and Centre streets. The upi)er portion and belfry still ex- 
ist as a part of Phoenix Block. The first pastor of the 
church, was the Rev. Isaiah Weston who was settled in 
1795 and remained until 1808. Mr. Weston graduated at 
Brown University in 1793. After resigning his pastorate he 
held the position of collector of the port of New Bedford and re- 
moved later to western New York where he died in 1821. 
About 1805-7 there was a great revival of religious interest in 
the parish and large numbers were added to the church. As at 
first constituted, the church was Arminian in doctrine as were 



39 



many others at that time which afterward became distinctively 
Unitarian. It is probable that this period in the church history 
marks the beg'inning of the strong Calvinistic influence which 
dominated it in after years. Dissension soon a[)peare(l however 
and certain members who had been received during the great re- 
vival, withdrew in 1811, and were instrumental in forming a new 
church called the Third Church. The services of this church 
were held in a small building occupied both as church and 
school house, which stood on Main street nearly opposite 
where the hotel now stands. The two churches however united 
harmoniously about the year 1820. Whether the Third Church 
had a regular pastor the writer has not ascertained, but thinks it 
probable that it was served by a ministry of the evangelistic 
type. The original church, after the resignation of Mr. Weston, 
seems to have had no settled pastor until 1813, when Mr. 
Al)raham Wheeler was called and was ordained on June 30. 
Mr. Wheeler was a native of Holden, Mass., and graduated at 
Williams College in 1810. He remained with the church in 
Fairhaven until 1818. He Avas afterward pastor in Candia 
N. H., and was living in Ohio in 1840. He died in 1857. The 
next pastor was the Rev. Paul Jewett who was settled in 1820. 
Mr. Jewett was a native of Rowley, Mass., and graduated at 
Brown University in 1802. He left Fairhaven in 1822 and 
afterward was settled in Scituate and Carver. Mr. Jewett died 
in 1841. On Jan. 9, 1823, the church voted to ask Rev. 
William Gould to continue with them as their minister. Mr. 
Gould was born in Salem, Mass., in 1792, received his classical 
education under private tuition, and, after the old custom, 
studied divinity privately with the Rev. Mr. Dodge of Haver- 
hill. Before coming to Fairhaven he preached in Darien, Ga., 
and Dracut, Mass. He remained with the Fairhaven church about 
seventeen years. During Mr. Gould's pastorate the church was 
greatly prospered, and with increasing numbers and increasing 
wealth rose to that prominence in the community which it main- 



40 

tained for many years during the middle of the hist century. In 
1839, Mr. Gould's health began to fail and so the church called 
and ordained as his colleague, llev. ,Tacob Roberts. Shortly 
after however, ecclesiastical complications regarding Mr. Gould 
resulted in the formation of the Centre Congregational Church 
with Mr. Gould as its pastor. A short sketch of this church 
and of Mr. Gould's later life is appended. 

Mr. Roberts remained as sole pastor of the First Church. 
Durino- his pastorate, in the year 1845, the present church edifice 
at the corner of Centre and William streets was erected. It was 
at that time one of the finest church edifices to be found in New 
Eno-land. And at this day its beautiful gothic arches and pil- 
asters, and its stately and richly ornamented pulpit set against 
the delicate brown tints of the wall decoration, are full of grace- 
fulness and harmony. Its lofty steeple, visible for miles around 
and a beacon for sailors along the coast, was blown down in the 
great gale of Sept. 8, 1869. Mr. Roberts was the son of Evan 
Roberts and Hester Fussell, was born in London May 24, 1810, 
and graduated at Highgate College. He remained at Fairhaven 
until 1855, was afterward settled in East Medway, Mass., and 
later resided in Auburndale, Mass., without charge. He died 
March 4, 1894, aged 83. Mr. Roberts married (1) Agnes 
Fussell who died in 1840, and (2) Mary Augusta, daughter of 
Nathan and Sarah H. (Church of Fairhaven. Mr. Roberts was 
succeeded by the Rev. John Willard who graduated at Yale 
college in 1849, and at Andover Seminary in 1853, and after- 
wards s[)ent a year in })ost graduate work. He was ordained 
Jan. 25, 1855, and was pastor at Fairhaven fiom that year until 
1867. He was pastor in Birmingham, Conn., from 1869-73, 
Marlboro, Mass., 1873-79 and later in Decorah, Iowa. Mr. 
Willard has for some years resided without charge in the 
city of Chicago and is the oldest living ex-pastor of the 
church. He was followed in 1868 by Rev. Avery S. 
Walker, who icmained with the church until 1871. Dr. 



41 



Walker graduated from Oberlin College in 1854, received 
the degree of M. A. in 1856, and graduated from Union 
Theological Seminary in 1857. He received the degree of 
D. D. from Drury College in 1883. Before coming to Fair- 
haven, he was pastor at Lodi, N. J., 1857-00, Rockville, Conn., 
1860-64, and Dover, N. H., 1864-68. Afterwards he was pastor 
at Gloversville, N.Y., 1871-77, Spencer, Mass., 1877-87, Canton, 
N. Y., 1888-94, Needham, Mass., 1895-98. More recently. Dr. 
Walker has resided at Henniker, N. H., and VVellesley Hills, 
Mass. He was succeeded in 1873, by Rev. Winfield S. Hawkes, 
who graduated at the Hartford Theological Seminary in 1868, 
and before coming to Fairhaven, had i)reached in South Windsor 
and Stafford Springs, Conn. Mr. Hawkes left in 1876, going to 
Haydenville, Mass. In 1878, he was settled over the Congre- 
gational Church in South Hadley Falls, Mass., remaining there 
until 1887, when he went to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Mon- 
tana, as Home Missionary Superintendent, which position he held 
eleven years. Since that time, he has been financial secretary of 
the French-American College in Springfield, Mass. Mr. Hawkes 
was followed in 1878 by Rev. William Carruthers Mr. Car- 
ruthers graduated at Bowdoin College in 1853, and Bangor The- 
ological Seminary in 1856. Previous to his installation over this 
church he had preached in Sandwich, North Cambridge and 
Danvers, Mass., Calais, Me., and Pittsfield, Mass. It is worthy 
of record that the sermon at Mr. Carruthers' installation was 
preached by that pastor and bishop of all the churches, Phillips 
Brooks. Mr. Carruthers' pastorate ended in 1886. He was 
settled later in Richmond Hill, L. I., and served for a time as 
city missionary in New Bedford. He has since resided in Holy- 
oke, Mass., and, while supplying the pulpit in South Dartmouth, 
in Fairhaven, receiving there many evidences of regard from the 
townspeople whom he has known so long. The pulpit was 
supplied later by Rev. Frank H. Kasson, who graduated from 
Iowa College in 1874, and later took the degree of M. A. from 



WtU^wtusi^ M»\ Knsiivvn, iho jvuI|mI \v?^s sup^^litsl with iiix^l i»i^ 
KV^^5»mv hv M»\ Jj^muvs M. l.o\\»?»» sH vH\u\5iy sIuvUm^i iu tho IVv*- 

^WjiKXH^ ^>>t XL Ax in ISJ^i', ii»'5ivlu5*t*\i t\\n\» tho 'rh<vK\iU\sl Sm\w 
uwrv »« l^i^x JM^vl \\Hvu>\l tho vh^jiixH^ ^^f rh. IV nvm Invitou 
r»«v^»^!^^y h^ li^t^is Ho hitor ouUmwI tho muu*trv ^U' Iho i\M\. 
jitV'ii^lKMwl i^uivh HUvl i^i uvnv |>«!tUn* ol iho ohuwh <>t thsHt oixUn^ 
iu S<*u\Uxioh» UK Ho i?^ uuviJ kiuvUv wiuomKn^ni in iho ohmvh 
whioh ho ?!>t^rvx\l u) hiji ?tUuionl \\HY>i. 

1V» «o\i tv*?tUxr» KoY. lUnoY U. ii»wno» iii"«diwitsi i^l 
iho Yj^W OiYiniiY Sv^hvH^l in IS^K «ml wjtji orvis^intHi in Ki^ir- 
hi^Yon iho s!*n\o \>\ir» Ho wmHimsi ihoro until M»roh» I8i'^^ 
Wu\$;r n'^xl ^iKkI in Hsuiivxtvi» Vt,> \vhoi>^ ho riM^wimHi ^tUnU » 
Yo*r !»nvl it h«h\ iV\ »v\\Hint <xt ^nn^r h<\»Uh ho w»,< ohUsiwi 
lo 5*iYo tt|» unni^lom! >v^>rk s^ml h^j^ ^in^v tv^How^nl it husin<^>i 
o«roor» Mr» i^r«^MW» xvho i^ iho 5?\m\ ot Koy» n»\ John NL 
l<r<»ono <>£ l*<>xx^^lU * woU known iVi^^ix^ii^iionj^l minij^tor* is h 
|>*rk v\>»nn\issionor 5»n\l tiw^^^nw^r ot tho IVvHtvi ot l^^vio ot tho 
oilY v^f KowolK Ho 5»l^> Kvnduolii h tlon<tV Uujiiiu^iji »ud hn^* 
n^do ihivo vUilii to tho HoIy 1**»hI tx>r iho jmr|Hv^ of ivIUvtin^ 
iho ftow ixi Ihsrt o<mwtr\\ Ho h^ji vU>no ?ionn^ uni^uo xvi^rk in 
iii^uiix^ KHxklot:«i ixt iSKNi'lim^ WiKi FloxYor^» 

11x0 ministor xvho toUoxvisl Mr^ i<rxHMH\ Koy. lX»rr»U L<h\ 
h^ o^mrtotx^xslY Ihu «lx!4olmolY rotui^^xl hU intoniwuon. Tho 
^Hilpil xv*jt • \ - ' '. hY KoY. \ViUi.^m H. Urvvlh<\«d» who 
xv*ji u^Uoxxc. . , J . >om t>!Astvn\ KoY, Fiwioriok B. 1^yuuhu» 
x\riH> 5»r«iiu*UHl a1 Amhor^l ColK^^ in lSi>T» Hitrtiorvi "Pho- 
^xK^x^l SnttiiwrY in UHX^» *nvl xx^ji orvUin<\i :»l Fiiirhaxon in 



43 

ilnil ycjir. l)\u]n</ Wv. Lytiiiui'ii pant.omli;, <;xU;n-iv<; iinprovr;- 
MH'fifH liHv<! h«!<rfi in;irj<; U) Ujo vo^tiy r;f th<; churcfi (ui'li'uj: }Ltn[ iUc 
(\\uyi.\i liaM ;.Hv<;ti fnanifcwt uvUUnuwM of iriciv;a>»irij( activity and 
UMrffiilfM'MM. r'Jmfi/^<;M many and ^avat hav*; vlHif>;<l thin church 
'luriri;/ tho more tfian a cr;nttjry r>f it« fjintory. The con^rrcxa- 
tiofiM of ionnor <layh, <'<>ti<itt'j/iiiiotih in which were fa/;eH ho fa- 
tniliiu to niJiriy ni (in, have vanifihr;rj innii our Hi;(}it, hut the 
church ithclf rerjiairH amir] all chan;(<;, and with reveren<M; wit^ 
ncHhCH tr> the permanencr; of the tijin^r^ that endure. 

If Hcemn fitting to give here a Hkefx;h of one who waH nf;t a 
njiniMter of thin town, hut who»<; hirf-hpla^^j it wa», and who ha<J 
throiij/hout fiin mini«f^;rial life an interest in itn rcA'f/um-. welf-jrc.. 
William lilarjkerjhhip llauiUifHid, the noti of Wif^on Hammond 
iifjd Ilarrid Jilankennhif) wan horn in Fairhaven June 5, 1812, 
and fitted iot colle;/e at liangor Clawnicaj fn-^titute. lie gra/I- 
uated at Amherht ('ollege in 1840, and Andover Seminary in 
1843, and waw onhiined at (Janton, MawH., Junrj '>, 1844, renjain- 
ing there until 1849. He wan pahf/>r at South Hraintree, Mai?H., 
from 184Ii to 18;0<;, acting panf/^r at Morri«ville, \. V,, \i<,')(',-(',?,, 
Lenox, \. V., 1803-70. He waw pa«tor at Acu^hnet Village 
fiom 1870-78. On account of failing health he then retired and 
resided at liome, \, V. until lii^ death, y\ug, 27, VM)h. He waH 
married .March 18, 1844, to Louixe .M. Pond of f;iinton \. V. 
MrH. Hammond died June 24, 1880. 

The (.'entre Congregational Church wa>^ organized ahout the 
year 1841, and hegan with good [no^^fiectH. The church oAU'uji 
waH erect/fjd i»i the year juit mentioned and wan aft/;rward wold to 
tiic MethodiMt Efii^cofml Church which now occupies it. The 
church dihhanded in 184I> ax it hecame eviflent that Much a^;tion 
waH winent foi- the promotion of the cauwe of religion in the com- 
munity. 

It-i two pantorh were Kev. William donUi and hin colleague 
Rev. I>aniel W. Poor. .VIr. Could conducted for a time a young 
JadicH Mcliool in Fairhaven afid Iat^;r renided in Iowa and Jllinoin. 



44 

In 1862 he removed to Pawtuoket, K. 1., where he died in 1871, 
aged 78 years. 

Daniel AVarren Poor the son of Rev. Daniel Poor, D. 1)., 
and Susan Bultinch, was horn in rilli[)ally, Ceylon, Aug. 21, 
1818, and eame to the United States at the age of twelve years. 
He graduated at Andierst College in 1837 and later studied at 
Andover Seminary, lie reeeived the degree of 1). D. from 
Princeton in 1857. Dr. Poor removed from Fairhaven to New- 
ark, N. J., after the Centre Church disbanded in 1849, and was 
pastor of the High St. Presbyterian Church there until 1809. 
From 18(39-72 he was }iastor of the First Presbyterian Church, 
Oakland, Cal., and from 1872-715, })rofessor in San Francisco 
Theological Seminary. In 1876, he was elected corresi)onding 
secretary of the Board of Education of the Presbyterian (liurch, 
with office in Philadelphia, and held this position until failing 
health compelled his resignation in 1893, when as a mark of ap_ 
preciation, he was made secretary emeritus of the board. He 
died in Newark, N. J., Oct. 11, 1897. He was the author of 
"Select Discourses from French and German", "Baptism not 
Immersion", and translated Lunge's Conmientary on the tirst 
epistle to the Corinthians. He was married Oct. 21, 1847, to 
Susan H., daughter of Captaiu and Mrs. Benjamin Ellis of Fair- 
haven. While in Newark he was instrumental in establishing 
three German churches in the })resbytcry anil (»ne in Phila- 
delphia, and in founding the German Theological School now 
located at Bloomtield, N. J. 



45 
THE UNITARIAN CHURCH 



On November 28, 1819, a few persons in town, dissatisfied 
with the prevailino: Calvinistic doctrines, gathered at the house 
of Elizabeth Taber in Oxford vilhiiie, and decided to iiold 
a series of religious meetings under the leadership of Ekler 
Moses How, with the view probably of founding a church of 
the Christian order, whose doctrine is mainly Unitarian, but 
whose })ractice is somewhat similar to that of the Baptists. The 
Bible was taken as the only rule of faith and practice. The 
Academy Hall which still stands at the corner of Main street and 
the New Bedford Bridge, was engaged for the purpose of hold- 
ing meetings. On Nov. 30, 1820, a church was organized with 
fort3^-five members, and on Sept. 4, 1821, Elder Charles Mor- 
gridge was ordained pastor. Elder Morgridge was followed by 
Simon Clough, James Taylor, Frederick Plummer, George 
Kelton and others until 1830. 

On Jan. 11, 1832, a meeting of subscribers to a fund for 
building a church was held at the residence of Capt. Warren 
Delano. On Dec. 7, 1832, the Washington Street Christian 
Church was organized at the house of Elizabeth Adams, and on 
Dec. 16, the building on the corner of Washington and Walnut 
streets, which was occupied by the society until 1902, was ded- 
icated. Elder William H. Taylor was the first pastor. In 1834, 
there was a great accession of members, eighty-six uniting in 
that year. About this time there was a discussion in the church 
on the subject of baptism, and a vote is on record that no })erson 
should be allowed to join the church unless immersed. This was 
however soon rescinded. Elder Taylor was followed by Elders 
John H. Currier, C. Bernett, Joseph H. Smith, David Millard 
and Charles Galligher. In 1841, the use of the pulpit was grant- 
ed to Elder William Miller, the exponent of Second Advent 
doctrine. As a result of his preaching thirty-three persons left 



46 



the church, most of whom united with a number from the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church and formed the nucleus of the Second 
Advent Society. In 1841, Elder Charles Morgridge was chosen 
pastor. He was followed by Eldei Stephen Fellows. The 
church had now become much weakened and a new and decisive 
step was resolved upon. It was decided to employ an educated 
ministry and [)ut itself more in harmony with the spiritual wants 
and intelligent thought of the age, and in 1844, Thomas Dawes, 
a Unitarian minister, was chosen })astor. Mr. Dawes was 
born in Baltimore, Md., March 11, 1818, graduated from 
Harvard College in 18oi), and from the Harvard Divinity School 
in 1842, received the degree of M. A. in 1843, and was ordained 
in Fairhaven, Oct. oO, 1844. He remained there until 1853, was 
settled in South Boston, 18o4-()l, Walpole, N. H., 1862-65, Nan- 
tucket, 1865-72. In 1872, he became pastor of the Unitarian 
Church in Brewster, Mass., which position he still holds, an 
honored veteran in the service, at the age of eighty-five. Mr. 
Dawes married Lydia, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Sawin 
of Fairhaven. Great improvements in the house of worship 
were made during the })astorate of j\Ir. Dawes, and the changes 
made at that time left the general appearance of the building 
such as it has remained up to the time of its remodeling for a 
schoolhouse in U)02. In 1856, a call was extended to Rev. 
Courtland Y. De Normandie and he was dul}' installed on Sept. 
10, of that year. Mr. De Normandie graduated from Meadville 
Theological School in 1852, was ordained in Brooklyn, Conn., 
and was pastor there until 1856. He remained in Fairhaven un- 
til April, 1869, since which date he has been settled in Laconia, 
N. H., and Kingston, Mass. Mr. De Normandie has been thirty 
years minister of the First Parish in Kingston. 

He was succeeded by Rev. Ellery Channing Butler. Mr. 
Butler studied theology in the Meadville Theological School, was 
ordained in Fairhaven, Oct. 26, 186i), and remained there about 
three years. Mr. Butler went from Fairhaven to Beverly, 



47 



Mass., where he remained a number of years and from which 
place he went to Quincy, Mass., where he is now pastor. 

The next pastor. Rev. Alfred Manchester graduated at the 
Harvard Divinity School in 1872. He was ordained in Fairha- 
ven, Jan. 9, 1873, and was settled there until Dec. 81, 1877. 

He was pastor of the Olney St., Congregational (Unitarian) 
Society, Providence, R. I., from 1878-1893, of the Independent 
Congregational (Unitarian) Church in Barton Square, Salem, 
Mass , from 1893-1897, since which date he has been pastor of 
the Second Church in the same city, 

Mr. Manchester was followed by Rev. James Monroe 
Leighton, who was ordained in Fairhaven, April 10, 1878. Mr. 
Leighton was born Oct. 12, 1848, at Waterboro, Maine, and was 
a special student at the Meadville Theological School in 1876 and 
1877. He remained in Fairhaven until October, 1891, going 
thence to Wolf borough, N. H., where he was pastor for a short 
time, and from there in 1893 to Belfast, Maine, where he re- 
mained as pastor until his death, April 23, 1901. "Refined, 
modest, gifted with ready tact, he had the hajipy faculty of not 
antagonizing men, and still was firm in his advocacy of what he 
believed to be right." 

" Yet Love will dream and faith will trust, 
( Since He who kuows our need is just, ) 
That somehow, somewhere meet we must. 
Alas for him who never sees 
The stars shine through his cj-^press trees! 
Who, hopeless, lays his dead away 
Nor looks to see the breaking day 
Across the mournful marbles pl.'iy I 
Who hath not learned, in hours of faith, 
The truth to flesh and sense unknown, 
That life is ever Lord of Death, 
And love can never lose its own." 

Mr. Leighton was followed in 1891, by Rev. Don C. Ste- 
vens, who resigned in 1893 to become librarian of The Millicent 



48 

Library, which i)()sition he held about eight years. He removed 
from Fairhaven after his resignation from that post. 

The next pastor, Rev. H. L. Buzzell, was ordained in Fair- 
haven, Oct. 30, 1893, and remained there until Oct. 1, 1896. 
Mr. Buzzell spent two years at Bates College and graduated at 
the Meadville Theological School. He is now pastor of the 
Church of the Saviour (Universalist) Nicholson, Pa. The 
})resent pastor, Rev. William Brunton, was educated in England 
and has had several pastorates in that country and in America. 
Mr. Brunton received a degree from the Harvard Divinity School 
in 1879. He began work in Fairhaven, Nov. 1, 1896. The 
closing words on the history of this church bring us to the one 
event which is most prominent in the church life of the town at 
this time, the erection of the new church edifice. A loving me- 
morial to an honored parent, from one who has evidenced in such 
distinguished ways his regard for his native town. As one re- 
flects upon the exquisite beauties of the cathedral in miniature 
whose walls are rising upon a site already made beautiful by 
former owners, the mind refuses to deal in terms of material val- 
ues. These will be recorded by other pens than mine. It is 
better that we listen to deeper tones which breathe from the 
sculpture and the tracery, from the softened light and the en- 
during stone, telling us that the age of religious faction and 
strife is brightening into a wiser and a better day. 




METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 



49 
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 



In the year 1820, a Methodist Episcopal Church was organ- 
ized in New Bedford and attracted to its services and membership 
a number of residents of Fairhaven, in whicli town there was 
occasional preaching by the minister in charge. In 1829, it was 
decided, upon request, that a chapel should be erected for the 
Vjenefit of the Fairhaven members, and the building now occupied 
by the town as a High School, on Main street, north of the 
bridge, was built and opened for public worship in June, 1830. 
The dedication sermons were preached i)y Rev. Orange Scott and 
Rev. John Livesey. The society continued to be a branch of the 
one in New Bedford until 1832 when a distinct organization was 
formed. On Aug. 30, 1832, the following named persons were 
chosen as a board of trustees : Joseph Millett, James Tripp, 
2nd, John P. Winslow, Joseph P. Swift, Dennis McCarthy and 
Warren Maxfield. In the year 1849, the substantial church edifice 
at the corner of Centre and Walnut streets, erected by the Centre 
Congregational Church in 1841, was left vacant by the disband- 
ing of that organization. The matter of purchase by the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church was immediately considered and soon 
effected and the building was occupied that year. Various im- 
provements to the house of worship have been made from time 
to time, the most extensive of all having just been completed in 
the present year. 

The interior of the church has lieen practically renewed, an 
addition having been built for the organ, new pews put in, the 
audience room redecorated and additional space made for parish 
pur})oses. A most interesting fact in the history of the house of 
worship is the return to it of the organ, enlarged and renewed, 
which was the property of the Centre Congregational Church and 
which, Avhen that organization was dissolved, was disposed of 
to the Unitarian Church. After being in the possession of the 



50 

latter society over fifty years the organ returns in this year, 
1903, to its original home as a gift. The official appointments to 
the ministry of this church have been as follows: l(S30-ol, 
Rev. William Livesey ; 1831-32, Rev. Leonard Griffin; 
1832-34, Rev. Nathan Paine ; 1834-35, Rev. Lewis Janson ; 
1835-36, Rev. Daniel K. Banister; 1836-38, Rev. David Leslie; 
1838-39, Rev. Henry Mayo; 1839-41, Rev. Apollos Hale; 
1841-43, Rev. Isaac Stoddard; 1843-44, Rev. Nathan Paine; 
1844-45, Rev. John W. Case; 1845-46, Rev. Daniel Webb, 
supplied by G. AV. Brewster; 1846-48, Rev. Micah J. Talbot, 
Jr., 1848-49, Rev. Henry Baylies; 1849-51, Rev. Samuel C. 
Brown: 1851-53, Rev. Horatio W. Houghton; 1853-55, 
Rev. Richard Livesey; 1855-57, Rev. William H. Richards; 
1857-58, Rev. Bartholomew Otheman ; 1858-59, Rev. James M. 
Worcester; 1859-61, Rev. John B. Husted ; 1861-63, Rev. 
Edward A. Lyon; 1863-65, Rev. William Livesey: 1865- 
68, Rev. Henry H. Smith; 1868-71, Rev. Frederick Upham, 
D. D. ; 1871-73, Rev. John Gray; 1873-75, Rev. Hopkins 

B. Cady; 1875-78, Rev. George De B. Stoddard; 1878-79, 
Rev. Daniel C. Stevenson; 1879-80, Rev. Francis D. Sargent; 
1880-83, Rev. George E. Fuller; 1883-84, Rev. E. L. Hyde; 
1884-86, Rev. Henry J. Fox, D. D., 1886-89, Rev. William F. 
Davis; 1889-91, Rev. W. Lenoir Hood ; 1891-93, Rev. Nathan 

C. Alger; 1893-95, Rev. George A. Sisson ; 1895-96, Rev. 
William S. Fitch; 1896-1902, Rev. S. E. Ellis; 1902- 
Rev. M. B. Wilson. 

Frederick Upham, son of Samuel Sprague Upham and Anna 
Foster, was born in Maiden, Mass., Oct. 4, 1799, and died in 
Fairhaven, March 20, 1891. He received his first appointment 
in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1821, 
officiating as junior preacher on the Scituate circuit which in- 
cluded all the towns from Plymouth to Dorchester. He was 
stationed at different time^ on Marthas Vineyard, in Sandwich, 
Bristol, Provincetown, Fall River, Newport, Providence, Taun- 




SECOND ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH 



51 

ton and Fairhaven, which town he chose as the permanent pUice 
of residence of his oUl aoe, and where he resided until his death, 
honored and revered by the entire community. 

On the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, it was stated that 
he had been nearly seventy years in tlie ministry, sixty-three 
of which had lieen in effective rehitions with what is now the 
New Enoland Southern Conference. He was presiding ehler 
from 1837-47, was a member of four general conferences and 
and received the degree of D. D. from DePauw University in 
1855. He was granted superannuated relation in 1883. Dr. 
Upham married Deborah Bourne whom he survived several 
years. The only child of Dr. and Mrs. Upham, Rev. Samuel F. 
Upham, D. D., is well known as a professor in Drew Theological 
Seminary. The writer regrets that he has not secured a bi- 
ographical sketch of Rev. Henry J. Fox, D. D., who was pastor 
of the jSIethodist Episcopal Church from 1884-86. Dr. Fox 
was born in Hull, England, in 1821, came to America when 
twenty-three years of age, and spent his latter years in Fairha- 
ven where he died Nov. 5, 1891. A courteous and kindly man, 
retined in maimer and scholarly in taste, he possessed the affec- 
tion and esteem of the community and died lamented I)y a much 
wider circle than that to which his ministerial labor had been 
o;iven. 



THE ADVENT CHRISTIAN CHURCH 



The history of Second Advent preaching in Fairhaven dates 
from the year 1841, when Rev, William Miller, founder of Ad- 
ventism, preached in the Christian Bajitist Church. 

The records of the church have not l)een carefully preserved 
and it has been for long periods without a pastor. Regular 
services have however been held continuously by a faithful con- 



52 

gregation for many years, although at one period no preaching 
was maintained." The present house of worship on William street, 
formerly known as Sawins Hall, after being purchased by the 
society, was dedicated Nov. 10, 1866. It has recently been very 
greatly improved. Ministers who have served the Church have 
been Rev. Messrs. J. W. Thomas, G. F. Haines, O. L, Waters, 
L. F. Reynolds, and the present pastor, Rev. George M. Little. 



THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 



During the early days of old Dartmouth and for many suc- 
ceeding years the influence of the Society of Friends upon its 
religious and social life was an important one. 

This influence has been very much less in Fairhaven than in 
other parts of the ancient town. In the city across the river, the 
Society commanded an influence and prestige which was never 
acquired by the Fairhaven Friends. There was no meeting 
house in the present limits of the town until 1849, when the 
plain house of worship on Bridge street was erected. The num- 
ber of worshipers here has always been small. 




WHALER OUTWARD BOUND 



CHAPTER IV 

Commercial and Industrial History 

By CYRUS D. HUNT 



JOHN COOKK, the original settler of Fuirhaven, came to 
IMyiiiouth willi his father in the Mayllowcir. 

lie was about lifteen years of age \vh('n h(^ hmded on the 
shores of America. 

As a boy he nuist have been an active participant in the 
varied experiences through which the Pilgrims passed. 

Embarking at Delft Haven and sailing to Southampton, the 
return to Dartmouth and again to Plymouth, the aban(k)nment 
of the misnamed " Sj)eedweU" and the voyage across the tem- 
pestuous ocean to the shore of the new world, he passed through 
the terrible sickness of the tirst winter, when half of the one 
hundred died. 

He nmst have witnessed the interviews with the; Indians and 
have become conscious of the superioi'ity of the Knglish, which 
no doubt made him indifferent to the danger to which he and 
those with him were (^xjjosc'd, by severing his relatiotis with those 
he left behind when he came to Fairhaven. 

John Cooke was a man of note among the tirst settlers. 

He was made a freeman in lGo3 ; he was then 2b years old. 

The next year he married Sarah Warren, one of the daugh- 
ters of Richard Warren who came over in the Mayflower. 

In 1G53, he was a deputy to the (ieneral Court, and was 
appointed by the Court to adjust the disputes between tlu; Dutch 



54 



and English who were clashin"; in Connecticut. He was (Io])uty 
at the General Court in 1655 and 165(3. 

He left Plymouth in 1655), and travelled by Avay of Middle- 
boro. He had been married twenty-live years and had a family 
of four daughters. Of these four daughters, one married a 
Mr. West, from whom West Island was named, another married 
Thomas Taber, and a third married a Mr. Hathaway. 

It is said John Cooke had a great desire to possess islands. 

At the time of his leaving Plymouth, cattle, including 
horses and oxen, cows, sheep and hogs, also fowl, were ({uite 
numerous in the colonies, and he no doubt took with him a 
number of each, as he was reported to be possessed of his share 
of this world's goods, which, at that time, meant not deposits in 
banks nor certificates of stocks, but lands and cattle and a spirit 
of industry to utilize the agricultural products of his lands. 

John Cooke and his family formed quite a com[)any, setting 
forth with his j)ersonal property to found a new home in the 
wilderness ; at that time it must have taken several days journey- 
ing the 25 miles from the shores of Plymouth to the banks of the 
Acushnet, where he was to carve out for himself and those who 
followed him, a new home. 

The land through which he travelled was covered with forests 
which Winslow says were free from bush(!s as the Indians burned 
them every year to permit the grass to grow, therefore traveling 
among them was con)paratively easy. The first work of John 
Cooke then was the cutting down of the trees and clearing (he 
land for cultivation. 

That recjuired hard work, and a great deal of it. As one 
contemplates the miles of stone walls that were built by the early 
settlers, from the stones gathered from the land to make it suitable 
for cultivation, and to form division lines, they speak volumes of 
the i)atient industry and long hours of toil that were expended, to 
clear the land and j>repare it for the plow of the husbandman. 

The cost of clearing land today by manual labor, the men 




WHALER AT HOME P O R T DISC H A R G E D 



55 



working ten hours a day, gives some idea of the value of cleared 
land, and furnishes some conception of what the early settlers had 
to do to put it in condition to he cultivated. 

Arriving here, John Cooke selected as his homestead, the land 
now embraced in the north part of the town. He built his house 
on that portion of his homestead nearly east of Mr. John H. 
Rowland's house, and to the east of Adams street. About one 
thousand feet west of his house, towards the Acushnet river, he 
built a l)l()ck house as a i)lace of protection from the Indians ; the 
l)k)ck house was probably located on that s[)ot, because of its 
proximity to a spring of water that would afford them a supply. 
The foundation of the block house was levelled some years ago ; 
it is just north of Rowland road, while the spring is to the south 
of it. 

During King Philip's war, John Cooke, with his family and 
those living in the vicinity, took refuge in the block house, and 
were saved from the massacre, l)ut five of his people were killed, 
among them John Cooke's nephew and his wife. 

Mr. John H. Rowland, who is the owner of the land on 
which the block house was built, has generously deeded the 
historic spot to the Improvement Association of the town, thus 
emulating the noble spirit that is influencing many of our wealthy 
men of these times, when more wealth is given in public dona- 
tions, than could have ever entered the minds of the original 
settlers that this country would ever possess. 

As one stands on the spot today on which his house was 
located, he sees a beautiful valley lying to the east, where arc 
nearly fifty houses affording homes to the present occupants of 
the land. A good deal of it is well cultivated, and afl'ords a 
pleasing sight. To the west, is seen the Acushnet river upon 
whose western bank have been erected the great cotton mills, the 
hum of whose busy machinery, with more than a million spindles, 
can be plainly heard as it spins and weaves the cotton and con- 



56 



verts it into merchanta1)le forms, furnishing employment to many 
thousands of industrious workmen. 

The location is an ideal one, and reflects credit on the judg- 
ment of John Cooke for his selection. 

In view of the industry he was to pursue, — that of agri- 
culture — and to security from the Indians, although he probably 
had little fear of them, it would seem no better location could 
have been selected for his home than that he chose. 

The iirst emjiloymcnt of the early settlers was farming, and 
that business, at that time, meant hard and incessant work for 
the men who cultivated the ground, as well as for the women in 
the house who cared for the family's wants. 

From the settlement of John Cooke, down to the beginning of 
the whale fishery, farming was the chief business and productive 
industry of the people, and unlike the farming of today, little 
machinery was used to aid the farmei in his daily labor. After 
the importation of cattle, plows were used to break up the soil, 
and it is said the Indians were amazed to see what an extent of 
ground could be broken u[) and prepared for planting by a plow 
and a yoke of oxen, — yet the plow of that day is described as a 
clumsy affair. At that time, strong men, capable of endurance, 
were the necessary requirements, and work from sun to sun the 
rule. 

It is proper to state that the well-to-do farmers of this sec- 
tion were the most independent class of people that could be 
found anywhere on the face of the earth. They had come here 
to be inde[)endent, and their conditions })ermitted the exer- 
cise of that spirit. They owned the land they cultivated ; that land 
furnished them the food they required ; corn and oats, rye, bar- 
ley and wheat. Of vegetables, potatoes and onions, s(|uashes 
and pumpkins ; for potatoes, though unknown to the aborigines 
in this section, were early brought from Virginia and were pro- 
bably (luite plentiful by the time under consideration. Of cattle, 
each farmer had his oxen and horses, for the latter were suf- 



57 

Hciently numerous to afford tlio soldiers a nutnl)er for calvary 
during King Philip's war, — and sheep supi)Iied the wool required 
for clothing, while their cows furnished them with milk, butter 
and cheese. Some of them even owned their own grist mills and 
ground their own grain; even tanned their own hides and made 
their own leather; thus being able to supply their every want; 
the farming then was done by hard work, and it developed a 
hardy robust class of men who were [)rou(l of their inheritance and 
worthy descendants of a noble ancestry. 

The situation of Fairhaven, its riparian rights, its good har- 
l)or and its sinuous shores ou the noble bay whose waters abound 
in edible tish, has had much to do in forming the industrial char- 
acter and in determining the em[)loyments of its people. 

Its location attracted such people as found in its surround- 
ings opportunity for congenial occu})ations, and moulded those 
whose previous vocations had been of a different nature, who, 
yielding to the influence of association, engaged in the business 
for which the situation of the town was peculiarly adapted : so 
we find its enterprising citizens early engaged in the whale fish- 
ery, — and this was the princi[)al business of Fairhaven, until a 
new and more prolific source of oil was discovered to supply the 
wants of the world. 

Both, William Bradford, the second Governor of Plymouth 
Colony, whose manuscript was so unexpectedly and fortunately 
found and brought here to this country from England, and 
"Mort" in his "Relations", mention the whales they saw in great 
numbers while lying in the harbor of Provincetown during the 
months of November and December of the winter of 1620. 
Mort's "Relations" mentions the great schools of whales as a 
promising source of employment and of supplies for the oil they 
would i)roduce, pro[)hetic of the future of this inmiediate lo- 
cality. 

As an industry, whaling had been engaged in by the Eng- 
lish as early as Alfred the Great, and the old Northmen followed 



58 

and captured the whales, not only for their oil but also for the 
food they furnished. The Portuguese were noted for their 
marine adventures ; they followed the whales along the coast of 
Africa, and a Portuguese navigator as early as 1486, six years 
before Columbus discovered America, had sailed down the west- 
ern coast of Africa and around Cape of Good Hope. 

So the prosecution of whaling was not a new industry, but 
simply improving the op})()rtunity which was presented to the 
people of this locality. 

Whales were numerous within a few miles of this " Goodly 
harbor'*, and so soon as this section became settled and the needs 
of the people permitted, they embarked in the whale fishery. 
This required the l)uilding of vessels, small at first, but gradual- 
ly larger and larger, as ^he pursuit of the whales required longer 
voyages to capture them. The building of vessels required 
the cutting and hewing of timber, the hauling of it to the ship- 
yards, the work of blacksmiths, of ship carpenters, of caulkers, 
and painters ; to fit the ships, rope walks were built and o[)er- 
ated ; riggers and sail-makers employed and many coopers re- 
quired to make the casks to receive the oil that resulted from 
the trying out of the blubber of the whales. 

Oxford seems to have been the locality selected for the 
buiklin": of the vessels, but after the bridge was constructed 
1796-1797, ship building was transferred below the Imdge, and 
many vessels were built along the shore to be sent out in pursuit 
of the leviathans of the deep. 

The last vessels constructed in the town were at Blackler's 
ship-yard just north of the American Tack Co. works ; but the 
time had come for a change in the industries of the town, not that 
farming was to be abandoned, but with the introduction of pe- 
troleum as an illuminant and its use as a lubricant, the demand 
for whale-oil slackened just as whales were becoming scarcer, 
and the cost of whale oil more. AVhaling attained its greatest 
importance, as the industry of this town, in 1854, when there 




GRANITE WHARF, MARINE RAILWAY 



59 



were, it is reported, some fifty vessels sailing from Fairhaven 
engaged in the whale-fishery, but, just as after about one hun- 
dred years were devoted to farming, from 1660 to 1760, so after 
about a century of whaling, a change was to be inaugurated in 
the ))ursuits of the people, and manufacturing was to take the place 
of that industry in which the people of the town had shown re- 
markable enterprise, pluck and courage in the prosecution of the 
business, and it had brought to them the wealth that was well 
earned and was their just reward. This change was hastened by 
the destruction of many of the whaling ships by the rebel 
cruisers, built and equipped in England, and sent forth to prey 
on the defenceless vessels engaged in their peaceful pursuits on 
the seas. The Florida, Alabama, Shenandoah, and other rebel 
cruisers, captured and destroyed some 46 whaling vessels, sev- 
eral of them belonging to this town ; from this serious blow to a 
profitable industry, Fairhaven never recovered, and her enter- 
prising men lost the capital invested in whaling. With business 
prostrated, the people struggled for a time with the adverse cir- 
cumstances by which they were surrounded, and might, in a 
measure, have regained what had been lost ; but the progress of 
events decided otherwise. Petroleum oil could be obtained 
without fitting out ships at a great cost, and assuming the risks 
that attended the procuring of oil from the whale ; and the pro- 
o-ress of the race had reached such a stage that whale oil would 
not su[)ply the needs of advanced civilization. 

The largest quantity of oil brought into New Bedford during 
any one year was in 1853, when, statistics inform us, there were 
428,000 bbls., Avhich, with the 3,966,500 pounds of whalebone 
was valued at over $10,000,000. What a contrast with the 
production of oil today I For the consumptive demands, required 
for lighting and heating, and for lubricating the machinery, that 
is being operated in this country, the greatest (juantity of whale 
oil produced, a little more than a thousand barrels a day, would 
not be sufficient to lubricate the axles of the cars on our railroads 



60 



that carry the millions of passengers, and haul the prodigious 
quantities of freight that is trans})orted over them. 

Whence comes this wonderful fluid that flows up from the 
wells bored into the earth? Whence its origin and what its 
permanency? Is it the mother of the coal we now use? And 
will it continue to supply our wants? No one can contemplate 
the liquid and think of its use without marvelling at what may be 
its origin, and what it has done, and what it is doing and is 
destined to do. Some geologists tell us it is the product of 
marine animals, millions of whales, perhaps ; others that it is 
generated l)y the catalytic action between the carbonate of lime 
which forms the cap rock over the oil sand, and the sulphate of 
lime that forms its base. Inasmuch as these two minerals contain 
the necessary elements for forming oil, carbon and hydrogen, the 
latter theory, it would seem, is the more reasonable; but what- 
ever its origin, it exists, and its use is producing a revolution in 
the industrial and commercial world as it has in the domain of 
fl nance. 

It has supplanted whale oil as an illuminant and lubricant, 
and is taking the })lace of coal for generating power. 

The great trans-continental railroads, with their lines reach- 
ino; the oil fields of Texas and California, are using the oil to 
ijenerate steam to drive their giant locomotives as they speed 
across the continent ; and the big steamships find it a better fuel 
for their use than the coal it is supplanting. Even one of the 
enterprising citizens of this town makes use of it to drive his 
engine to saw wood for the public, when the strike of the miners 
makes wood a substitute for coal. 

The former wealth of Fairhaven, lost by the failure of 
\vhalin12:, is returning, ph(enix-like, in other and more beautiful 
forms, and in industries more congenial, constructive and 
beneficial. 

But we cannot leave the whale industry, which has been the 
source of this section's wealth and the foundation of its present 




OLD WIND MILL- FORMERLY NEAR THE FORT 



61 

prosperity, without paying a merited tribute to the enterprise of 
the business men who built the ships, furnished them with the 
supplies and sent them forth on the great ocean in search of tlie 
oil contained in the whales ; oftentimes the venture was a total 
loss, for the vessels visited seas that were unknown to the 
mariner, and no chart i)ointed out the dangerous reefs or hidden 
rocks that might lie in their way — and what meed of praise is not 
due to the brave officers and crews of the vessels that sailed forth 
on the treacherous seas in search of their prey. Poets have suiuj" 
of the heroes who fought the battles of the })ast, and have 
crowned them with glory for the mighty deeds of valor done ])y 
them ; but they met beings of their own size and their own kind ; 
while the wdialemen were to meet a foe in his own element, in 
small boats which he could crush in an instant with his ponderous 
jaws, or could break in pieces by a stroke of his flukes or a blow 
of his tail. To approach such an animal in his own dt)main, to 
capture and secure him for commercial purposes, not for glory, 
nor for conquest of territory, nor under the excitement of battle, 
but calmly and deliberately, required skill as well as great 
physical courage, that is worthy of the highest praise and deserving 
of the greatest honor from those who appreciate merit and 
recognize manly worth. 

The ships visited every sea in search of whales, and endured 
every climate fi-om the heat of the tropical sun to the Arctic 
regions where the sun does not sink below the horizon during 
the long summer day, nor rise above it through the dreary night 
of winter. No sea was too distant for the whalemen, if there they 
could find the object of their pursuit, and no risk too hazardous 
for those intrej)id men. And it was not always alone they were 
permitted to peacefully pursue their vocation, for shar}) and keen 
competition sometimes entered into the pursuit of the whales. 
Starbuck gives many very interesting ac-counts of the rivalry and 
sometimes strategy between and among the ships that were 
seeking the same object. 



62 



He relates one instance as follows: "Many years ao;o an 
English, a French, a Portuguese and an American ship lay 
becalmed within a radius of a mile of each other in the South 
Pacific, when a whale was 'raised'. With the celerity peculiar 
to whaling, a boat from each ship was down and in pursuit. The 
American whaleman is the only one who attends exclusively 
to his own duty ; the oarsman leaves the watching of the whale to 
his officers and tends strictly to his oars. The boatsteerer of the 
American boat in his account of this intei'national race said : 
' Placing the palm of my hand under the abaft oar, while with 
my right I guided the boat, and at each stroke threw a part of 
my weight against it, our boat would ' skim the water like a thing 
of life'. A few moments from the start brought us up with the 
Portuguese. The crews of the four ships were witnessing the 
chase ; the excitement was tremendous. Our shipmates cheered 
us as we came up to the first boat, and as we passed her the 
whale again made its appearance. Singing out to the men 
'There she blows', right ahead. Give way, my boys, etc.', we 
were soon alongside the Frenchman. The Frenchman was too 
polite to oppose us, and we passed him with ease. The English 
boat was now about ten rods ahead of us, and the whale about one 
and three-fourths of a mile. Now came the trial. The English 
boat was manned by the same number of hands as ours, and see- 
ing us pass the other boats, their whole strength and force were 
put to their oars. We gained on them but slowly, and such was 
the excitement of the race that we were in danger of passing over 
where the whale last 'blowed'. At this moment, the English boat- 
steerer noticed the manner in which I had })laced my left hand 
and weight against the (abaft) oar. Instantly laying hold of his 
own in like manner his first effort broke it short off at the lock. 
Thus disabled he gave us a hearty curse as we shot by him like a 
meteor. We had been so excited with the race that we had lost 
sight of the whale, but as luck would have it, at this instant she 



63 



'hlowed' hut a few rods ahead. In a moment we were fast and 
all hands stern." 

"That whale stowed us down ei_<2,hty-tive harrels of oil and 
shortened our voyage two months." 

THE BEGINNING OF MANUFACTURING 

While yet the whalinii' industry was flourishing, the first 
distinctive investment in manufacturing was made, and the 
buildings subsequently occupied by the Fairhaven Ii-on Works 
were erected on Laurel street. The Ijusiness engaged in, was the 
manufacture of cotton bagging and cotton cloth. It was prose- 
cuted but a few years, when the Fairhaven Iron Works took 
possession of the buildings for a foundry and machine shop. 
This latter l)usiness was the pioneer in the transition from the 
whaling to a successful manufacturing community, and it es- 
tablished a reputation for superior quality of castings that it still 
retains., and the Fairhaven Iron Foundry Co. is today one of the 
flourishing industries of the town, furnishing employment to 
from 35 to 40 hands, and sending its products to many parts of 
the country. 

In 1864, the American Nail Machine Co., of Boston, bought 
the Rodman property on Fort street, including some twenty 
acres of land, the large buildings that had been used for the 
manufacture of spermaceti candles, and the stone wharf that 
had been built to accommodate the largest whaling vessels during 
the palmy days of that business. 

The making of spermaceti candles was one of the profitable 
auxiliary industries that had furnished the people with enq)loy- 
ment, but with the decline of whaling that disa})peared with it. 
By making some changes in the interior of the buildings, which 
were of stone and substantially built, they furnished quite com- 
modious and suitable accommodations for the manufacture of 
tacks, and such other goods as were germain to it. 



64- 



The Company was organized to build and operate patented 
nail machines, which were invented by two mechanics to secure a 
self-feeding nail machine. At that time, there were in operation 
in New England over 1000 nail machines, which were i)roducing 
nearly all the nails which were then made in the country. The 
Bridgewaters, Wareham, Weymouth, East Taunton, Somerset, 
and Fall River, being the principal locations of the mills, all of 
above, except Somerset, which was not started until 1856, were 
located where water could be used as the power to drive the mill 
machinery to make the })late, and the machines for cutting the 
nails. The location at Somerset was made after steam had be- 
come the factor for driving machinery. These 1000 nail ma- 
chines required, at the time of the invention of the automatic 
feeding machine, a feeder to each machine, the feeders earned 
on an average $1.25 a day. It was therefore costing over $1200 
a day for hand labor, and it was to supi)lant this hand labor by 
automatic feediu": that the self-feedini;: machine was invented. 
To save one-half of this $1200 a day was the object sought. 

It is a remarkable coincidence, that the tirst certificates of 
the Fairhaven Bank, organized in 1831, should have on them a 
cut representing a nailer and a nail machine, the nailer feeding 
the machine by "turning plate." It was to substitute mechanism 
for this hand feeding, that incited the builders of the double head- 
ing nail machine to construct the machine, the patent for which 
formed the basis of the American Nail Machine Company, and 
this was the foundation of the American Tack Co. 

At that time, Fairhaven presented a different appearance 
from what it does today. The whaling business was nearly dead, 
only two vessels were fitted out for whaling; those who had been 
engaged in the business had lost their pr()j)erty, the wharves 
which had presented a scene of activity during the prosperous 
era of wdialing, were silent and deserted, yet there were a few 
men at work building vessels at Blackler's ship-yard, and whale- 
boats were still built at the shops whose rcj)utation for superior 



65 

boats secured them orders for the few vessels that were still fitted 
out at New Bedford ; but the life of the business had been 
quenched by the Confederate rebel cruisers, and the supply of 
petroleum oil, the refining of which on a small scale, was done 
in Fairhaven as a natural result of the familiarity of the people 
with oil ; but even the refining of oil was destined to lie done 
where it could he handled in large quantities, and the re- 
fining cheapened because of such quantities, and the prox- 
imity of the producing fields and the markets — so gradually 
whale-oil was displaced, both as an illuminant and a lubricant, 
yet for certain kinds of machinery no kind of oil has yet equalled 
s})erm oil. 

Gradually the new industry made itself felt in the town, 
and the natural rei)ugnance of the peo})le to manufacturing lie- 
cause of mill operatives, who were necessarily brought into the 
town at the outset, was overcome, for the skilled workmen, who 
accompanied the advent of the business, were men of intelligence 
and good morals, and their quiet demeanor and attention to 
l)usiness, secured the respect of the citizens, and elicited the en- 
comium from no less a man than Capt. John A. Hawes, to the 
manag-er : "You are entitled to the thanks of the citizens of the 
town for the kind of men you brought into it." 

Capt. Hawes knew whereof he spoke, for he had several of 
them as tenants in houses which had been vacant before the 
starting of the tack works. 

By the purchase of several small concerns, the Tack Com- 
pany removed competition, and took the field to itself — but the 
most important purchase made was that of William S. Guerineau, 
of New York city. He had succeeded to the business of Arby 
Field who started in the manufacture of tacks in New York in 
1824. By this purchase, the complaints of the old manufacturers, 
that the tack company of this place was an interloper, was ef- 
fectually silenced for Arby Field was an older manufacturer than 
his brother Albert, of Taunton. But though their taunts were 



66 



silenced, their efforts to keej) the American Tack Company out 
of the market were not in the least reUixed, nor their determina- 
tion to compass its defeat abated. But the local company 
adopted original methods of selling its goods, and sought the 
trade of the small buyers and consumers. This course baffled 
the old manufacturers and secured a permanent line of customers 
whose purchases, though small singly, netted larger profits than 
could be obtained from the jobbers and large dealers. 

By close attention to the requirements of the trade, and the 
most rigid economy of manufacture, the business grew gradual- 
ly year by year until the company operated 130 tack machines 
and fifty auxiliary machines, making it the third in })roduction 
and sales of its goods, in the country. 

The general tack business had been managed by a combina- 
tion of the manufacturers, and the law of supply and demand 
recognized ; the supply being restricted to the consumptive de- 
mands of the period. By this measure, stable prices were main- 
tained and good profits realized. This is the basic i)rinci{)al 
upon which all trusts should be organized, and is essential to the 
successful prosecution of all productive industries. 

But by 1880, several new tack concerns had started, and 
were running independent; it became necessary, therefore, to 
adopt more stringent measures than had been effective, and the 
Central Manufacturing Company was organized. Every tack 
concern in the country was merged in this trust, including the 
Judson Manufacturing Co., of Oakland, Cal., and for two years 
it controlled the business ; but the workmen at some of the 
factories, became aml)itious to be manufacturers themselves, and 
l)efore four years had elapsed, 54 new tack concerns had started 
up, some to manufacture goods, others to be bought out. Several 
were bought, others subsidized and controlled. 

This policy was pursued until more new concerns were 
started, than were silenced, and in the spring of L886, after four 
years of effort, when the original number 39, had grown to 93 



G7 

tack concerns, the Central Manufacturing Company was dissolved, 
and sharp competition ensued. Let it be said to the credit of the 
workmen of the American Tack Company, not one of its skilled 
workmen engaged in destroying the industry, but stayed loyally 
by the comi)any, and by the business that furnished them 
emplo3^ment. 

For twenty-one years, from 1865 to 1886, the relations 
between the management and the employees were cordial and 
harmonious. The readjustment necessary after the dissolution of 
the Central Company, brought the Knights of Labor into the 
industrial field, and the first signs of discord appeared resulting 
in a strike of the tack makers ordered by their Union. 

Informed of the strike, Mr. Beauvais, the Treasurer, said: 
" Shut down the mill if it takes a year." But that would have 
ruined the business, so no shut down, but the mill continued to 
run, although the company was boycotted for three years by the 
then powerful organization of Labor. 

But the company had a large export trade unaffected by the 
edict, so found a ready market for its products and estalilished 
the right of the owners to control their own property. 

In 1891, the five largest companies were merged into the 
Atlas Tack Corporation, which was subsequently reorganized as 
the Atlas Tack Company, and the present extensive buildings 
erected. Here in this great mill the best machinery of the old 
companies was concentrated and the most modern and improved 
machines built to fill the mill. 

Fairhaven today can justly boast of the largest and best 
equipped tack mill in the world; furnishing employment to some 
450 hands, and sending its products to every civilized country in 

the world. 

Thus from the modest beginning of forty years ago, the 
business in this town has grown to its present proportions and is 
justly the hope and pride of its people. 



68 



THATCHER BROTHERS 

MANUFACTURERS OF DIAMOND FINISH CUT GLASS 

Mr. George T. Thatcher began the business in a very small 
way on Purchase street, New Bedford, about 1890, with two 
cutting frames. In a very short time six more frames were 
added. In 1891, Mr. Richard Thatcher bought an interest in the 
business, and it was then carried on under the firm name of 
Thatcher Bros., and was moved into the old Hathaway, Soule & 
Harrington Shoe Factory, on Second street, where more frames 
were added, making thirty in all. After three years, it was seen 
that those quarters were not large enough for their fast increasing 
trade, and the firm decided to build a factory for their use. 

The site in Fairhaven, where the present factory is located, 
was selected, as it gave them direct drainage into the river which 
was considered necessary on account of the deposit of silica and 
lead of which the glass is composed. 

Formerly the blanks in a rough state were imported direct 
by the firm, from England, on account of the purity of color of 
the glass, which is a great factor in the trade. 

Of late, the product of the American manufacturers is supe- 
rior to the imported, and the firm now use the domestic blank. 

About four 3'ears ago, a blowing furnace was added to the 
})lant and carried on until the increased cost of fuel made it 
impossible to make blanks with any profit in a small plant. 

The firm employ from Hfty to seventy hands ; both members 
are practical workmen and not afraid to soil their hands with 
hard work. The product of the factory is sold all over the 
country, and is well known for its richness in designs, })urity 
and brilliant polish, which gives it its name of Diamond Finish 
Cut Glass. 

E. G. SPOONER 

Located on Middle street, just south of the bridge, is the 
marble works of Mr. E. G. Spooner, where may l)e found a 
choice assortment in his line. 




TACK MACHINE ROOM ATLAS TACK Co. 



09 



Mr. Spooner is prepared to execute; plain and ornamental 
designs, to suit the wants of the community, and the calls for his 
products from the city, the Vineyard, and other localities, show 
that they give his many patrons satisfaction. 

THE BRISTOL BUILDERS SUPPLY CO. 

The Bristol Builders Supply Company occupy the large and 
conniiodious building on the north side of Spring street between 
Main and William streets. As their name implies, they are 
prepared to furnish builders with such furnishings as they may 
require for house and ship joinery. 

The company employs from ten to twenty hands in the 
erection of l)uildings, and in operating the machinery installed in 
the building, the })ower for which is furnished by a 50-horse 
power engine. 

The enterprise shown l)y the managers of this comjiany, and 
the work done Ijy them, justly entitles the company to rank as 
one of the industries of the town. 

As the future welfare and prosperity of Fairhaven depend 
largely on manufacturing, it is fortunate the town vvisely retained 
a portion of the old town farm as a site for a cotton mill, which 
it is hoped will be utilized at no distant future day, for that 
purpose. 

A wonderful change has taken place in Fairhaven during the 
past forty years, and she has now entered the domain of manu- 
facturing provided with all the modern elements to ensure 
success. 

Without water there can be no power, and without [)ower 
there can be no modern manufacturing, therefore, no water, no 
manufacturing. 

In 1865, nearly fort^' years ago, with above proposition in 
mind, the manager of the American Tack Co., while carefully 
examining the topogra})hy and hydrography of the town in search 



70 



of a supply of water came across one of Fairhaven's old whaling- 
captains. 

Expressing his perplexity and doubts regarding the necessar}' 
supply, the captain ejaculated: "Water! why, there is plenty 
of water and there isn't a better place in the old Bay State 
to carry on manufacturing than right here in this town." 

And, added he, " If vou live long enough vou will see what 
1 say is true." 

"No other place has the advantages possessed by Fair- 
haven." 

Asked to name the advantages he exultingly said: " Look 
at our water front, no other town has its ecjual." The reply: 
" If water front constitutes advantages, Nantucket surpasses 
Fairhaven." 

However, liy sinking Hve large wells on the company's 
twenty acres, a limited supply of water was obtained, but the 
calcareous mineral in it would be })recij)itated to the bottom of 
the boilers, requiring frequent and regular cleaning to save them 
from being burnt, and to keep them in condition to make steam 
economically. 

This was strictly attended to by Mr. Clark, the faithful 
engineer, to whose unremitting care and applied skill the compa- 
ny and its employees were indebted for the uniform power he 
always supplied. 

During the many years that he had charge of the power 
department, the generation of steam and the running of his 
engines, no delays or stoppage occurred and the machinery was 
run with the regularity of the clock that pointed the hour to start 
and to stop the engines that drove the machinery. 

During the last fifteen years of hin services, more than twenty 
tons of water were converted into steam each ten hours, and as 
much more used to dilute the acid used to vitriolize the steel 
plates, to dissolve the necessary lime, and to furnish water to 
clean tlie scaled plates thus prepared for the tack makers. 



71 

But the diiiiadvantaofes resulting from a lack of water, and its 
mineral character have been overcome. 

Just as in the city across the harbor, so when the demand 
came for more and purer water suitable for steam purposes, the 
requisite supply was furnished. 

One of Fairhaven's intelligent and educated young men saw 
the need, the absolute prerequisite, of pure water in abundance if 
the town were to make any i)rogress in manufacturing, and the 
need of it too as a sanitary measure. 

Ability, persistency and ca[)ital were re(]uired, and these 
were at his command, resulting in the present water works, their 
source of supply, its efficient steam plant, its system of pipes, 
and lofty tower, grand results that he can contemplate with 
supreme satisfaction and deserved complaisancy. 

That abundant supply of pure water makes it possible to 
prosecute manufacturing as a successful industry, and the doughty 
captain's prediction that " Fairhaven possesses superior ad- 
vantages" may yet be verified by the judicious use of water and 
capital. 

Without the former, there can be no effective power, and the 
latter is indispensable to utilize it whether the result of gravity 
or the molecular force of expansion. 

Passing down the harbor and out into the bay, towards the 
islands which shelter its waters from the rougher waves of the 
ocean that lies beyond them, the objects on the receding shores 
gradually grow less and less distinct, but above them piercing the 
sky, are seen the noble water tower and the tall, symmetrical 
stack of the Atlas Tack Co. 

These prominent objects grow more and more distinct in 
their outlines the farther the ol^server goes from them, and arc 
visable long after the most elevated objects in ^ew Bedford have 
disappeared. So, too, as one returns from the islands, or as he 
enters the bay from the broad ocean by Gosnold's temporary home, 
the first objects to be seen are these two monuments significant 
of sup[)ly and industry ; of sanitation, comfort and oi)portunity. 



72 



FISHING 

As the Pilgrims depended largely on the edible tish taken 
from the sea, so today, fishing is not an entirely neglected 
industry, but the catching of them by seines and pounds has been 
prohibited. On this subject Mr. Daniel W. Deane, who was 
largely interested in the trapping of tish, writes as follows : 

"The pioneer in the industry, Mr. S. P. Dunn, set the first 
weir or })ound in our waters in 1868, and from that time on, the 
business grew very rapidly until we had 28 within the limits of 
Fairhaven, taking annually from a million to a million and a half 
of edible fish, and furnishing enn)loyment nt)t only to the owners 
but to numerous others who bought and sold the catch. 

"The industr}'^ had hardly become established, before it was 
discovered ihat there were many varieties of fish visiting our 
waters in large numbers of which we had previously no 
knowledge, and consumers of fish in this vicinity were privileged 
to enjoy a greater variety of fish food than ever before. 

" For something over twentj^ years, the industry flourished 
wonderfully, furnishing some thirty-five kinds of edible fish, and 
large «|uantities of others for bait to the deep sea fishermen, and 
to the farmers for the enrichment of their lands and the conse- 
quent increase of their crops. 

"The industry was finally destroyed l)y an act of the 
Legislature, which prohibits the use of weirs, pounds, nets or 
seines in the water of Buzzards Bay." 

Mr. Deane made the fish question one of careful study, and 
his extended experience qualified him to judge the subject intelli- 
gently. He has stated that the carnivora fish destroyed immense 
<|uantitios of fish, and by catching theai, more edible fish were 
saved from destruction than were caught in the traps ; besides 
the carnivora furnished good dressing to enrich the lands of the 
farmers; the need of fish as a fertilizer was one of the first 
lessons learned by the English from the Indians. 

In the bay, tautog, scu[), and other bottom fish are (|uite 







FOU NTAI N - ERECTED BY IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY 



73 



numerous, but no one has followed tisliing as a vocation since the 
days of Nathan Allen, and those who "go a fishing" go for the 
sport rather than for the profit or as a vocation for a livelihood. 

Some years ago Captain Kelley came to this })ort from 
Harwich and engaged in codtishing, sending his vessels into the 
waters lietween Block Island and Noman's Land. He was very 
successful and at his death was succeeded by his son, David 
Kelley, who continues the business left him by his fjither. He 
owns several vessels, and cures the fish caught by them, on Old 
South wharf which he purchased for the exclusive use of his 
business. He has recently erected a large and commodious 
building on his premises for the curing and packing of fish which 
requires several hands. This may justly lie considered one of 
the town's successful industries. 

But our harl)or and bay afford employment to some seventy 
men, citizens of this town, who follow the catching of quahogs 
as a regular daily vocation ; and the catch finds a ready and 
steady market, summer and winter. These bivalves are raked 
from the bottom of the river, harbor, and bay, and are sold in 
the laro-e cities as "Little-neck Clams.'' Thev furnish a course 
in our aristocratic clubs, and constitute a delicacy in the first- 
class rest'cUirants. It is safe to state that more than 100 bushels 
of these mollusks are taken l)y the fishermen of Fairhaven per 
day as an average catch, netting the men engaged in the business 
good pay; some of the more expert earning from $'20 to $30 a 
week under favorable conditions. 

Although this is a comparatively new industry, it has 
become of considerable commercial value, and brings into the 
town many thousands of dollars a year as a reward for the hard 
labor of those engaged in the business. The supply seems in- 
exhaustible, and the market equal to the supply, readily absorb- 
ing all these shell fish that are now cauaht. 



74 



PRESENT CONDITIONS 

A comparison of the iiulustrial condition of today, with that 
of forty years ai>-o, ])rcsont.s a marked contrast. No sii>ns of 
whaling are seen about the wharves where formerly activity 
reigned. The building of shi[)s no longer furnishes emplo^auent, 
the rope- walks and sail-lofts have disappeared, and nothing re- 
mains of the industry but two sho[)s that still tind work, building 
whaleboats they know so well how to build. But in the [)lace 
of these departed industries, the great tack mill, where many 
skilled hands find enn^loyment, and the other active industries, 
have contributed to the welfare of the town. And as in all 
communities where manufacturing has been estal)lished, fai-ming 
has tlourished, and the farmer tinds a ready and [)rotitaI)le market 
for the products of his farui. 

One of Fairhaven's most successful farmers writes : "Agri- 
culture, always a [)rominent industry of the town, was never in 
a more prosperous condition than at present." 

"New and up to date machinery and methods of tilling the 
soil are more and more in vogue, and the fertility of the farms is 
being constantly increased by judicious and scientitic treatment"'. 

But the revolution and entire change in the industrial 
character of Fairhaven has not been greater than in its physical 
features ; today Fairhaven's public ways are in su]:)erb condition ; 
miles of her roads are macadamized, their gutters })aved, and her 
curbed, granolithic sidewalks afford a delight to the i)edestrian, 
as her well-shaded streets do to the l)icyclists : yet perhaps the 
greatest, as well as the most beneticial, sanitary and aesthetic 
change is now in progress — the tilling of the mill pond. 

The remark of the Master, "Be thou removed and cast into 
the sea", is being literally fultilled, and a beautiful park will 
take the place of the present useless waste. 




MILL POND IN 1903 



75 



COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORTATION 

Ready and easy means of communication and of [)rompt and 
cheap trans[)ortation to the market are essential and necessary for 
the successful prosecution of any business, whether it be the 
products of fishermen or of the farmer, or the more durable 
articles of the manufacturer. 

Unless the goods of the farmer can be delivered promptly, 
they will suffer from decay ; and the products of the factory or 
mill must not be delayed on the route if the manufacturer would 
retain his customers. 

To secure quick communication, there must be lines of tele- 
graph and telephone to transmit messages ; and direct linos of 
mail for carrying the more cumbersome mail matter. 

Today, Fairhaven has all these facilities, even a daily freight 
train which delivers goods in New York or Boston the morning 
following the day of shi})ment. 

These facilities have been secured by the magnitude of 
business now being done, and other potent influences which in- 
duced the railroad to provide through cars for the freight of 
goods. 

This was not always so, for before the building of the rail- 
road from New Bedford to Taunton in 1840, the journey to Bos- 
ton (only some sixty miles) and return, would consume as many 
days as it takes hours at the present time ; and communication is 
counted by seconds only as the telephone transmits the thoughts 
over the electric wire. 

In 1854, the Branch railroad from this place to Wareham, 
where it connects with the Cape Cod road, was constructed which 
afforded additional facilities for travel, and also, in a measure, 
for freight of merchandise. 

To meet the conditions of trade today, prompt despatch of 
goods is demanded, and if one manufacturer cannot meet the re- 
quirements of business, others will — with the loss of trade to the 
former. 



76 



In 1870, a few days after making a shipment of goods to a 
Boston house by the Fairhaven branch, the following trenchant 
message was received. "Have waited three days for goods, to 
ship west. We advise you send goods by ox team in the future ; 
quicker if not cheaper. " From that date all goods were sent 
via New Bedford, where the railroad received them until tive 
p. m., and they were in Boston or New York the next morning. 

By this means the sharp competition of Taunton, Whitman, 
and the factories located near Boston or New York was met, but 
at some expense of carting goods some two miles to the north 
freight station. 

Promptness of delivery is indispensable to success. To se- 
cure this, conmumication must be perfect l)y wire and mail; and 
celerity of freight as near so as possible. 

Today, jobbers, dealers and manufacturers carry very little 
stock, making promptness of delivery imperative to the manu- 
facturer who would retain trade during the sharp competition of 
present commercial activity. Distance has been effaced, and 
facilities for transportation ample for those who judiciously use 
and improve them. 

TRADE AND MONEY 

When the Pilgrims landed on the shores of Plymouth, they 
had little money and very little use for it. As Bradford wrote : 
"There were no friends to welcome them, nor any inns to enter- 
tain them," so they had to depend on their own endeavors to 
supply their wants. 

Of trading, there could be none until they were settled in 
the new homes they nuist build by their own laI:)C)r ; the virgin 
forests would supply the logs after the trees had been felled, and 
the sea the tish for food. The Indians had little to supply the 
English, for they were too low in barbarism to utilize nature's 
crude materials, and they had none of the necessar}' tools to 
convert to their use what the Pilgrims subsequently utilized. 




NEW BEDFORD END OF NEW BRIDGE 
IN 1902 



77 



They had learned to catch the tish that came up the river in the 
spring, and instructed the English in one of the rudiments of 
agriculture, the use of fish to fertilize the land for the growth of 
corn. 

The first products of the Indians obtained by the English, 
were the corn and beans which were discovered by the Pilgrims 
in their exploration of Cape Cod, while the Mayflower was lying 
in the harbor of Provincetown. 

For the corn and beans thus obtained the English subse- 
quently recompensed the Indians, but in what form, Winslow, 
who made the settlement when he visited Massasoit in July of 
1621, did not state : however, the general remark of Bi'adford, 
"that they gave full satisfaction to their good content," is evi- 
dence a settlement was made to the satisfaction of both [)arties. 

While this transaction was not "trading," yet Iteing the first 
products of the Indians obtained by the English, and the momen- 
tous results to the Pilgrims of that seed-corn, it deserves men- 
tion. How the Indians must have viewed the transaction, the 
trespass on their land, and the taking away of the food they had 
provided for their winter's supply, we do not know ; but it is 
easy to imagine ; and it must have exposed the Pilgrims to the 
anger of the aborigines to be thus treated b^' the strangers who 
had landed on their shores. 

Fortunately this first act of the English was amicably settled 
with Massasoit, but it doubtless rankled in the breasts of the 
savages, and may have caused the destruction of Weston's settle- 
ment and the threatened annihilation of the Colony of Plymouth, 
averted by the slaughter of four of the Indian leaders. 

The principal articles of the Indians which the English 
could use or exchange, were the corn and beans they raised, and 
the beaver and otter skins they obtained. The former they 
could use as food, and the latter send to Ens'Iand, where there 
was a ready market for them. 

That there was considerable tradinu' with the Indians is 



78 



evident from the fact that the "Fortune," which arrived in 
November, 1621, was loaded with two " hoggsheads of beaver 
and otter skins," and "good chipboard and some saxefras," to 
the value of 500 pounds English money, and sailed in December 
for England. That the Pilgrims could have gathered together 
so many skins from the Indians, and have prepared clapboards 
and secured sassafras sufficient to have loaded the "Fortune," 
although only of fifty-five tons burthen, is a wonder, for, be it 
remembered, half of their number had died during the winter, 
and the remainder had been sick except Captain Standish and a 
few others, who had the care of the rest, and themselves to pro- 
vide with food. 

To have obtained the $2,500 worth of merchandise to send 
home by the first vessel that visited them, shows they must have 
been diligent workers ; yet they were condemned by the capital- 
ists at home because they sent so little. That perhaps was their 
misfortune, for the vessel was captured by a French pirate and 
all their goods taken. 

The first distinct trade, recorded by Bradford, was the pur- 
chase of 26 hogsheads of corn and beans when he visited the 
Indians in the shalloj), purposing to go around the Cape, but on 
account of "the shoals and fierce wind returned to Manamoyack 
Bay". 

He does not state what was paid for the food they thus 
obtained, but j)rol)ably in tools, a few hoes to [)lant corn and 
beans, and knives and glass beads. The latter cost the English 
very little, but being so much superior to the beads of the 
Indians, made from the quahog and periwinkle shells, they were 
esteemed very highly by the Indians, and while they were used 
as money of exchange by the men, they were worn as ornaments 
by the women. 

The standard of value of the English was the pound ster- 
ling, and with that as the measure of value, the Court in 1640 
fixed the price of wampum of the Indians at six for a penny. 



79 



Thus the luisis of trading- between the Indians and the 
English was established, and continued so long as the Indians 
had any portable articles of value to trade with or to sell. By 
the time that John Cooke was ready to leave Plymouth and settle 
here, the Indians had little to sell except their land, and a large 
portion of that had been disposed of by the trusting Massasoit, 
who parted with his domains for a few agricultural tools, or a 
little cloth and wampum. 

As has been stated, this section was bonght by 34 of the 
original settlers of Plymouth, John Cooke being one. By his 
wife, Sarah Warren, he probably became the owner of another 
thirtj^-fourth, and may have bought half of another thirty-fourth, 
as he was the owner of two and one-half thirty-fourths of the 
territory. 

But l)efore the purchase of the Dartmouth tract, in 1652, 
Massasoit had sold, in 1637, the territory known as the " Titi- 
quet" Purchase to a Miss Elizabeth Pool, who seems to have 
been an enter[)rising lady, for she settled on her [)urchased land 
and cultivated it. 

The year following, in 1638, Massasoit sold to the English 
another tract of land, which included the territory now embraced 
in Taunton, Easton, Norton, Manstield, Dighton, Berkley, and 
Ray n ham. 

In 1641, Massasoit sold "ten miles square"; this sale in- 
cluded what is now liehoboth, Seekonk, Pawtucket, and Provi- 
dence. 

The purchases by the Massachusetts Settlement probably 
stimulated the Plymouth people to buy some of Massasoit's land 
before their more enterprising neighbors of Boston shonld get 
possession of the whole of it from the too easy King. They no 
doubt realized that the treaty of peace they had made witii Mas- 
sasoit l)efore even the Massachusetts Settlement had begun, and 
the favorable impression Governors Bradford and Winslow had 
produced on the Indians' minds of their pacific and friendly in- 



80 

tcntions, woro l)oini>' used for tlu> houetit oi llioso who hiul coiiio 
after tlicni ; in self-defence, therefore, they decided to protect 
themselves before their active and less scrupulous neighbors had 
api)ropriated all of Massasoit's land. 

The Hrst transacti(ni in real estate recorded in the records of 
Plymouth, was the sale of one acre of land " lyinii' on the north 
side ot the town, by Philip Delanoy to Ste})hen Dean," and the 
})rice n:\nied was ''four pounds sterlinii" or the e(|uivalent of that 
amount in goods." 

Having disposed of about all they had to the English, ex_ 
cept what land they actually occupied, the Indians realized their 
poverty as compared with the English, and naturally grew dis- 
contented with their lot, and (Mivious of the newcomers who were 
possessors of their hunting-grounds which were being converted 
into fruitful farms, stocked with cattle, horses, shee}), hogs, and 
fowl, while by the use of the saw-mills, the trees were being 
quickly converted into hunber, and the grist-mills ground the 
corn into meal. 

It is not surprising that the Indians viewed with conster- 
nation the great change introduced by the newcomers. 

The water of the rivers that had run undisturbed to the sea, 
was made to do the work of the white man; to grind his corn, or 
to saw the lumber to be used to build his houses, his forts, or 
his ships. With his guns he could shoot the deer or the wild 
turkeys of the woods, or kill the ducks and geese which they 
could seldom reach with their arrows, and those sainc> guns were 
deadly weapons when used against them in warfare. 

Their money, wampum, was wrought out only by slow, 
laborious work; and when tinislied with the utmost skill, did not 
compare in beauty and tinish with the glass beads of the English, 
made with little labor, but the result of chemical knowledge that 
enal)led them to produce from the sand a substance uidiuown to 
the Indians and of more value than their wampum. 

"Knowledge is power, " whether in the domain of [)roduc- 







■Si 



* f 



81 



tion or destruction — and the Indians became conscious of it. 
Their measure of vahie, and their medium of exchange, were de- 
stroyed, and a new measure sul)stituted, the English pound ster- 
ling was henceforth to be that measure while many substitutes 
might i)e the medium of exchange in trade. 

Thus at the time of the settlement of Fairhaven, the money 
of the Indians had been "demonetized", rendered worthless, by 
the ease with which glass beads could be produced in England, 
and could be sent here by the shipload. With their money 
made worthless, their hunting grounds converted into farms, 
their rivers made to do the work of the English, thus interfering 
with the ascent of the tish, upon which they de[)ended for food ; 
the deer and the rabbits, the turkeys and quails (»f the woods 
frightened and diminished in numbers by the guns of the white 
man, the condition of the Indians, at the time of the death of 
Massasoit in 1661, was desperate indeed. 

Should the inhabitants of some distant planet come to our 
earth and settle among us, who had knowledge as superior to 
ours as the Englishman's was to the Indian's, who could convert 
the earth and rocks of our world into gold by some simple chem- 
ical process known only to them, with weapons of destruction 
as much exceeding ours in the power of destruction as the guns 
of the English did the bows and arrows of the Indians, and 
with the gold made from the stones should purchase all our land, 
and other property, we would then be in an analogous condition, 
in our relations to the newcomers, as the Indians were when 
their wampum was valueless, their land gone, and the game of 
the forest frightened beyond their reach. 

Such was becoming the condition when John Cooke moved 
to Fairhaven and beiian the settlement of this section of the 
country bought of Massasoit and his son. 

To consider the financial situation it would i)e necessary to 
know the monetary conditions of John Cooke's time, and above 



82 

does not seem to be an exaggerated statement of affairs as they 
then existed. 

The Indians had parted with all of their beaver and otter 
skins, and the rai^id settlement of the country by the English, 
and the use of the rivers for mills and boats, so invaded the 
sources of their supplies that beaver and otter skins were no 
longer obtainable to sell to the English for tire water, or the glass 
beads for wampum. 

Wealth indues the possessor with unlimited power for good 
or ill. 

The legions of the Ctesars despoiled the world to enrich 
Rome ; and the Spaniards massacred the inhabitants of Mexico 
and Peru to obtain their gold and silver, and the shiploads of the 
precious metal wrenched from them by Drake, laid the founda- 
tions of England's wonderful commercial prosperity and made 
her the mistress of the seas. 

Fairhaven was settled amidst the poverty of the aborigines, 
and by their poverty they were destined to extinction ; the war 
of King Philip was a last desperate effort to regain what had 
been lost, and to avert the annihilation to which they were 
doomed. During this savage war, twelve towns were destroyed 
and more than six hundred Elnglish killed, among them four of 
the settlers of John Cooke's homestead. 

COINAGE OF MONEY 

The increase of population in Massachusetts required a 
medium of exchange, as well as a measure of value. The latter 
had been tixed, the pound sterling being the standard. In 1652, 
some eight years before Cooke's settlement here, the General 
Court, at Boston, established "A mint to coin money ". These 
coins were to be of the fineness of English money, of 12d., (id., 
3d., each — to be stam})ed "N. E." on one side, on the other 
Xlld., VId., and Illd., according to their respective values. 




oc 

O LJ 

o z 

0) m 

'" o 

zu 



(/) 



oc 

O : 

I 



> < 

UJ 

z z 

z o 

ui Z 
"^ z 

25 

I- 
< o 



«3 



These coins wcie in circulation vvlion John (Jooko settl(!<l in 
Fairhiivcn, l)ut silver was then too precious to escape th(! <nn)i(lity 
of th<! avai'icious, and thcii- phtinness sul)j(!cte(l them to so much 
clippinii' and washin;^', they \ver(; supphmted by coin of shillin^jrs 
and smali(}i- coin, with a doubh' rin<^ on either sid(! with Mass- 
achusetts and a ti'ce in the centre on one side, New England and 
the date on the other. Every shilling was to weigh three-pc^nny 
troy weight, and lesser coins in i)roportion of value. 

In 1(1(12, two years after John Cooke's settlement here, a 
two-penny piece was added 1o th(! coins. 

The Massachusetts mint continued to coin these |)i(!C(!s for 
n period of o4 years, hut all bore the date of 1G()2. 

During the reign of William and Mary of England, co))per 
coins were struck in England, for the New England colony, hav- 
ing on one side an elephant (i)ossil)ly significant of the load 
England had on her haruJs,) and on the other "Ood Preserve 
New England". 

Duiing the reign of (ieorge I, coins wei'e made in England 
composed of copper and zinc, resembling gold in color. On one 
side was stamped the head of King George, on tin; reverse side 
a laige doul)le rose and tin; words, "Rosa Americana Utile 
Duici ". Strenuous efforts wei'c; made to introdu(;e these coins 
in the colonies, and created nmch indi«j;nation amonj; the col- 
onists. 

During th.-? years 1 77>i to 17^'.), the power of coinage was 
exer(;ised by the confederation and also by several of the states. 

Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland 
as sovereign states, issued money stamped in their own mints, and 
Massachusetts again started her mints and coined cents with the 
tigurc! familiar to her citizens. (Jn one side, was the American 
Eagl(! with ai'rows in tin; right talon, and an olive; bi'anch in the 
left; a shield on its br(!ast bearing the word " (J(!nt. " The 
motto, " Massachusetts, 1788". i)x\ the reverse, the figure of an 



84 

Indian holdino- a bow and arrow, legend " Commonwealth" and 
a star. 

After the adoption of the constitution, a code of laws was 
enacted for the regulation of coinage. Some changes were made 
in 1837, when the standard of fineness of both gold and silver 
was fixed 9-10 fine ; the weight of the gold coins remained un- 
changed, but the weight of the silver dollar was reduced to 
412 1-2 grains, or 875 grains of pure silver and 37.5 grains of 
alloy. 

In 1873, the gold dollar of the standard weight of 25.8 
grains was fixed as the unit of value for the United States. 

Thus gradually the measure of value was changed from the 
English pound sterling adopted by the colonies, to the gold 
dollar of 25.8 grains troy weight, of 9-10 fine, — one-tenth being- 
copper and silver. 

So from the wampum of the Indians to the gold standard of 
the Nation, the money of Fairhaven was necessarily changed to 
conform to the conditions as fixed by custom or law. 

Locally, Fairhaven was early favored by having a bank to 
meet the requirements of its business. As whaling increased, 
the need of ready money became pressing, and to meet this need, 
the Fairhaven Bank was established in 1831. The money (^f this 
institution contributed greatly to the settlement of accounts upon 
the return of the vessels from the long voyages that were neces- 
sary during the most prosperous times of this industry. The 
Fairhaven Bank was a State institution and operated under the 
banking laws of Massachusetts. Before 1864, each State estab- 
lished its own banks, which issued their own bills; these gene- 
rally passed current within the limits of the State in which the 
bank was located ; l)ut l)eyond those limits the bills were subject 
to discounts, often ten per cent., in many cases even larger 
discounts were demanded for money of l)anks located in another 
State. This made good business for brokers, who exchanged 
the money of banks out of the State, for the money of the State 
in which it was to be used, for a lilieral discount. 




NATIONAL BANK OF FAIR HAVEN 



85 



The personal experience of one of our own citizens, is per- 
haps a good iUustration of some of the difficulties of the days 
before the national banks issued their paper money, or the gov- 
ernment its legal tenders, United States notes and Treasury 
notes, all of which pass current in any part of this country, and 
can be used at their face value in most foreign countries. 

Our citizen's experience as related by him was as follows : 

"Just before the war of 1861, while at work in Dighton, I 
was paid my monthly wages in bills on a Rhode Island bank. I 
can seem to see them even now ; they were of a deep red color 
and presented a striking ap[)earance." 

"With my money in hand I went to the grocer's and handed 
him some of the l)ills to pay my account." 

"The grocer took the bills, looked at them, shook his head 
and returned them to me with the laconic remark ' no good.' " 

" I then tried the butcher, Avho also refused to receive the 
money saying ' can't take foreign money. ' " 

"After some inquiry, I went to one of the ))anks in Taunton 
where I exchanged the 'foreign' money for Taunton bills, with 
which I soon settled my accounts, but I had to allow 10% com- 
mission for good home money." 

Sometimes it was almost as hard work to dispose of the 
money received for labor or for articles of connnerce as it was to 
earn or to get it ; a statement incredible to those of the younger 
generation whose only difficulty is the getting enough of it. 

The war for the preservation of the Union required immense 
sums of money to prosecute it, and the state banks were turned 
to as a source of supply ; they did not disappoint the government. 

In 1863, an act of Congress, amended in 1864, authorized the 
establishment of national banks, and the Fairhaven Bank became 
a national bank that year, by complying with the requirements of 
the law and subscril)ing and paying for the recjuired amount of 
government bonds. There were at that time, 1600 state banks in 



86 



the country, yet, in tlie numerical order of national charters, the 
Fairhaven Bank numbered 490. 

The promptness with which the bank of this town tendered 
its aid to the government, in its extreme urgency for money to 
defray the expenses of the war, was a credit to its management, 
and an honor to its stockholders, who approved and ratified its 
action. 

Gold at that time was $2.85, and the debt of the government 
over two thousand million dollars. 

Happily the ready aid of the national banks contributed in 
no small degree to the help of the government in })rosecuting its 
gigantic war to a successful issue. 

In the year 18H2, the year following the establishment of the 
state bank, the Fairhaven Institution for Savings was organized 
by the General Court of Massachusetts, which has furnished a 
safe deposit for the earnings of the people, and has been an 
encouragement to them to practice frugality, and thereby lay the 
foundations for the saving of earnings for disability or old age. 

Today, the Institution has deposits aggregating over half a 
million of dollars, which are loaned to parties, who require aid to 
make themselves homes of their own, and to corporations which 
furnish employment to the people. 

It was only by possessing capital, the savings of labor, that 
the great mills that are operated on the banks of the Acushnet 
river, were erected, and by its possession and use, those institu- 
tions of industry secure the necessary raw material and pay the 
weekly wages of the 15,000 employees that find employment in 
them. 

The savings banks of Old Dartmouth have been an important 
factor in jjromoting the growth and prosperity of this section of 
the country, and every depositor in those institutions, has con- 
tril)uted his or her share to that end. 



CHAPTER V 

EDUCATIONAL HISTORY 

By GEORGE H. TRIPP 



THE educational history of tlie town may properly be divided 
into three distinct periods : the era of the District School, 
when each district was almost a complete autonomy, managed for 
good or ill by the discretion or the unwisdom of the petty dictator, 
the prudential committeeman, when the object seemed to be, in 
too many cases, to fulfill the letter of the law by keeping a school 
regardless of the spirit of true education in keeping a good 
school, when but for the influence and exertions of some few far- 
sighted men on the town committees, the schools would have l)een 
even worse than they were ; the second period, dating from the 
establishment of the High School and extending to the time when 
the District School system was finally abolished, and the schools 
were managed by a central authority, and the teachers and schools 
were directly responsible to the authority of the town committee ; 
and the third period which covers the time from the building of 
the Rogers School and the election of the first superintendent of 
schools to the present day. 

In considerino- the schools of Fairhaven under the District 
School system, a system which dated in our state from 1789, and 
which Horace Mann said was the " most unfortunate law on the 
subject of the common schools ever enacted in this state," we 
must think of Fairhaven which then included Acushnet, as 
containing nineteen districts, extending from Long Plain to West 



88 



Island, the teachers in each district appointed by the local 
committeeman and virtually responsible to him alone. 

It is true the town committee had a certain veto power on 
appointments and dismissals, but seldom was it used. One 
notable use of this salutary power was recorded in the case of a 
teacher who had been summarily dismissed for floggini>: the son 
of the prudential committee, but who was restored to his desk by 
the town committee. But such instances were rare. 

It will give a l)etter idea of the condition of affairs in those 
"good old days" if we describe the buildings which sheltered the 
children of Fairhaven in their school days. The typical school- 
house Avhich fairly represented at least fifteen of the nineteen 
buildings was a low one-story wooden house, about fifteen or 
sixteen feet by twenty, outside measurement, unpainted, "but 
embellished with jackknife engravings on all sides," many of 
these cuts being extremely offensive and obscene. 

There were no blinds but occasional shutters, probably to 
protect the windows against stone throwing. 

Inside were no curtains at the windows, no blackboards, or 
if there was an instance here and there of a l)lackboard it was 
rarely used. Near one schoolhouse was found the school black- 
board floating in the mill pond where it had been for nearly a 
year. 

In another school a zealous committeeman endeavored to 
show the teacher and pupils the use of the board, and drew a 
map upon its surface, which was found intact when he visited the 
school thi-ee months later. There was no means of ventilation, 
the seats, each holding from three to six children, were arranged 
on three sides of a hollow square facing the centre, where a stove 
kept the temperature at 80° to 90°. 

Thirty or more children in high seats, where their feet could 
not touch the floor, were packed closely as they could be stowed, 
with absolutely no ventilation excei)t the cold winds blowing in 
through the loose window casings, causing one committee in its 







FAIRHAVEN HIGH SCHOOL 



89 

yearly report to say the " only tiling which saves the children 
from sudden death is the fact that the house is not tight." There 
were no woodhouses, so the wood was often wet and soggy. 

There were no vestibules, the outer clothing of the children 
hung around the schoolroom, plastering was falling down, 
smokepipes were sometimes repaired with paper stuffed in the 
cracks. 

To quote from a school report in the early 40's, " For one 
thincr we are thankful, the stove is so cracked as to allow the 
sparks and ashes to fall on the unprotected floor, which gave 
promise that the building might go off one day in a rapid con- 
sumption. Indeed, the teacher had already been obliged to 
betake herself to the water cure. Indeed, such zeal on her part 
we could by no means approve." 

The sanitary ai)pliances would seem at this day incredible, 
two or three of the school houses having absolutely no out- 
houses, and one school having such a building opening directly 
into the entry, within four feet of the inner door, Avhile inside the 
schoolroom, a few feet away, was a tire of blazing wood. 

Until about 1843 all sorts of books were used in the schools. 
What books the children had at home they brought to school. 

Class recitation was impossible. Sometimes thirty or forty 
recitations a day would be gone through with. 

An effort was made in that year to secure uniformity and a 
list of books was prescribed. 

This list, which was a good one for the times, was in niain 
as follows : Worcester's primer, National spelling book. Smith's 
geography and atlas, Omey's primary geogra[)hy, Goodrich's U. 
S. history, Webster's school dictionary, Bailey's algebra, Blake's 
philos()i)hy. Parley's history, Bible, Political class book, Hitch- 
cock's bookkeeping, Emerson's tirst, second, and third class 
readers, Emerson's part arithmetic, physiology. 

Another hopeful sign was the placing school libraries in 
many of the buildings in accordance with a vote of the legislature 



90 



which authorized districts to exj)end $30 the first year, and a 
small sum in succeedino; years, to establish and maintain such 
libraries. The influence of Horace Mann, the ablest State 
Superintendent of Education that ever presided over the edu- 
cational interests of any commonwealth, is constantly manifest 
in the very interesting school reports of this period. 

Meanwhile the teaching- force in too many instances was not 
much better than their buildings. Teachers " boarded round," 
untrained girls taught in Summer, men the AVinter schools, which 
were often in charge of whalemen, home from a voyage, with a 
chance to occupy a few leisure months on shore with teaching 
country schools. 

Parents seldom or never visited the schools. It seemed to 
be the purpose of the Prudential Committees to let things slide 
along and save ex[)ense. As one critic expressed it, " The ])est 
way for a School Committeeman to make himself popular is to 
say nothing, spend nothing, and do nothing." 

In constructing the houses described above, a school re[)ort 
of this period says of the method, " They first put on the build- 
ing committee a house carpenter, because he can tell how to build 
the cheapest, second, perhaps a ship captain, l>ecause he has been 
accustomed to stowing the hold of a ship, third, a farmer who 
leaves the details to the others." 

At this time with 1100 children of school age in town, 
three-fourths of the children in the village during the Winter and 
four-fifths in Summer received no beneflt of the schooling such 
as it was. In fact, one district voted that no children over ten 
years old should attend school in Summer, and none under ten 
should attend Winter school. 

Yet at this time the rules were that every scholar who " shall 
be absent from school in consequence of domestic service on 
washing day shall make u{) the recitations thus lost." 

It was the untiring zeal and unsparing criticism of certain 
broadminded men on the town connnitteos, who for years kept 




ROGERS SCHOOL 



91 



up a constant tire of argument, ridicule, and appeal, which 
gradually brought the conmuinity to its senses. 

They unflinchingly criticized men and methods — One Pru- 
dential Committeeman "ought to be indicted." One school- 
house was likened to an "old man whose manifold vices are 
written on his every feature and imprinted on every limb, covered 
with rags * * * whose very appearance invites death to rid 
himself and the world of so loathsome a thing." 

Even so early as 1841, was started an association in different 
parts of the town " whose object is to acquire and diftuse. by 
means of lectures, discussions, and otherwise, information 
concerning the common schools and the best means of improving 
them, the members of which have resolved, among other things, 
to be themselves frequent visitors of the schools." 

In 1841 it was already suggested that the districts be 
grouped together so that one school could be made to accom- 
modate three or four districts. It is supposed that four or five 
schools, if pro[)erl3' located, would be sufiicient for the whole 
town. In 1843 and for years after it was urged that the District 
system be abolished. Dr. Sawyer and other forceful men who 
honoied the town by serving upon its school committee pressed 
the ex[)ediency of the change. They also advocated the employ- 
ment of a town Superintendent of Schools forty years before 
such an officer was elected. They attempted grading the schools. 
A granuiiar school was started in April, 1843, by making over the 
old district school house on Centre street. Three schools were 
planned for this building, a grammar school, a medium school, 
and an infant department. We find in 1846, Hiram W. French 
as principal and Margaret Kem[)ton, assistant. In 1844 these 
progressive committeemen even urged a sewer to drain the Cen- 
tre street lot. 

There was manifest bitter sectional feeling in the School 
committee of 1847-8. So intense^ was the feeling that two in- 
dependent committees issued school reports, the two from the 



92 



north end of the town standing together, while three from the 
south end, or what is now Fairhaven proper, resenting the 
attitude of the Committee from Acushnet, took the stand that 
teachers and Committeemen should not be the same individuals, 
it beino; a fact that both Committeemen from Acushnet tauo;ht 
winter schools. The feeling between the sections was not allayed 
till the town was divided and Acushnet set off. With varying 
success yet always at a great disadvantage the district schools 
continued till 1869 when they were abolished by act of the Leg- 
islature. Of the system, Geo. 8, Boutwell, who was State 
Secretary of Instruction in 1859 said : It was a "system ad- 
mirably calculated to secure poor schools, incompetent teachers, 
consequent waste of public money, and yet neither Committee 
nor district, nor tow^n be responsible therefor." 

Before the establishment of the High School in 1852 })rivate 
schools flourished. On April 13, 1798, a meeting of citizens was 
held at which it was agreed to build an "Academy between the 
villages of Oxford, 50 ft. and half l)y 24 ft. half, two story 
high." The agreement was signed by Isaac Sherman, Benj. 
Lincoln, Levi Jenne, Noah Stoddard, Nicholas Stoddard, Killey 
Eldridge, Thomas Delano, Jethro Allen, Joseph Bates, Robert 
Bennett, Reuben Jenne, Nicholas Taber, and Luther A^'ilson. 
The school was established and opened on May 1, 1800, under 
Galen Hicks and Sally Cady. 

In 1802 it was taught l)y Richard Sawyer, and later in the 
year by John Nye and Abiah Haskell. Other teachers in later 
years were Messrs. Ward, Quimby, Pike, Zabdiel Sampson, and 
Lewis Bartlett. 

Public and religious meetings were held in this building, 
and it proved a certain centre for [)ublic functions. In the Bris- 
tol Gazette of 1815, a military company was advised by adver- 
tisement to meet for drill in front of the Academy. 

The Academy, which was first called the New Bedford 
Academy, cared for pupils of both sexes. 




ROGERS SCHOOL ANNEX 



93 



Lewis Bartlett afterward opened a private school on S[)rin<i: 
street, whicli was well attended and provided a <>o()d grammar 
school education. 

About 1840 a young ladies' boarding school which also ad- 
mitted young children of both sexes was opened by the Rev. 
William Gould, and was very well ])atronized by P^iirhaven and 
New Bedford people. This proved a very popular school for a 
number of years, many of the pupils of the school still living in 
the vicinity. A school for young children was successfully 
carried on for many years by Miss Mary Stoddard in the build- 
ing on Washington street, directly across from the house of the 
Protecting Society. 

In the 70's a good private school was taught by Frederick 
Hitch. Other schools were opened and had var^Mug success, 
until the character of the })ul)lic schools was so well established 
that the need for private schools no longer existed. 

At a meeting of the School Committee on Nov. I, 1851, it 
was voted that the High School commence its first term, Jan. 
26, 1852. 

The building now occupied as a High School was originally 
used as a Methodist Church, and was refitted and adapted to 
school purposes at an expense of about $4500. 

Mr. M. L. Montague was transferred from the Centre St. 
Grammar School and made principal of the new High School at 
a salary of $80 per month. Miss Angeline B. King and Miss 
Hannah A. Bryant were elected assistants. 

The conditions for entrance were stated by the Committee 
as follows: * 'A good knowledge of arithmetic through simple 
interest, English, Grammar in parsing, Geography sufficient to 
be familiar with maps, reading and spelling."' 

Out of 95 applicants, 70 were admitted, and the High 
School was launched. From the first it i)roved a success, and 
the courses as planned, compared very favorably with the course 
of similar institutions anywhere in New England. Text books 



94 



at that time were crude and dry, technical and unattractive as 
compared with books in use in our schools today, but tliey were 
solid and substantial, and though we might justly criticise the 
wisdom of analyzing Milton for Graumiatical Construction, and 
rather question the capacity of High School })upils to profit much 
from Watts "On the mind,*' yet the pupils seemed to thrive on 
the diet and the school prospered. 

The School Cf)mmittee still showed an intelligent interest in 
details of school work, and we come across such phrases as this 
in the yearly reports. "The parsing by the first, second, and 
third classes in Mihon 'was very correct.' " "Concerning one 
school visited the writing was not much to boast of." 

A familiar c()m[)laint which has been echoed l)y every com- 
mittee for over fifty years as though permanently recorded on a 
phonograph cylinder, read to turn on in each succeeding report, 
appears in the report of 1852-3. "Your Committee are gratified 
(later Committees were not so grateful) with the knowledge that 
Miss AValker's services are eagerly sought after by other School 
(yommittees with increased compensation." 

The next year the Committee urged the employment of an 
agent "whose l)usiness it shall be to attend to the intellectual 
welfare" of the school children. "Such an individual will l)e 
considered as indispensable for the intellectual health as the 
physician is for the corporeal." Of one teacher whom many 
will remember it was said " Miss Dean (Lois) is one of the most 
enero-etic and efficient teachers we have ever seen." 

Among many good teachers in the schools of the town at 
this time, Mrs. Margaret Fairfield, who taught for many years 
in the Centre St. School, was highly commended in the reports 
of the Committee. 

They who recently listened to the eloquent Decoration Day 
address of Col. Geo. L. Montague, will be interested to know 
that District No. lo was taught by him successfully one Winter. 



95 

Ml-. J. P. Allison succeeded to the priwcipal's duties at the 
Hiuh School in 1854. 

The tirst two gmduates of the school to enter college were 
Jolm D. Taber and Isaac Delano, who entered Middletown and 

Yale respectively. 

That the standard of admission to the school was to be 
kept up is evinced by two facts : The Committee were constant- 
ly urcring the raising of the requirements, and out of 35 who ap- 
plied^'in Oct. of oneVear soon after the school was established, 
only U) were admitted. The successive principals of the High 
School from its institution in 1852 to the present time are as 
follows: M. L. Montague, 1852; J. P. Allison, 1854; Geo. E. 
Thatcher, 1855; C. P. Rugg, 1857: Albert Hale, 1861; D. A. 
Caldwell, 1865 ; H. Winslow Warren, 1865 ; M. R. Chase, 1866 ; 
E. Whipple, 1866; C. C. Woodman, 1867; A. Sanford, 1869; 

D. A. Caldwell, 1870; H. C. Crane, 1870; G. A. Nichols, 1871; 
Vincent Moses, 1874; D. A. Caldwell, 1874; G. H. Tripp, 
1879; L. R. Wentworth, 1881; F.W.Elliott, 1884; Z.W. 
Kemp, 1885 ; L. B .Varney, 1889 ; H. H. Tucker, 1890 ; E. L. 
Chapman, 1891; H. L. Freeman, 1894; E. B. Gray, 1896; 

E. A. Hafford, 1897 ; W. A. Charles, 1899. 

The schools of Fairhaven received a fresh inspiration and all 
educational interests were quickened into new and lasting 
activities by the erection in 1885 of the Rogers School building, 
a o-ift to the town of his l)irth by Mr. Henry H. Rogers. 

In place of the old red schoolhouse of the 40's descril)ed in 
the opening pages of this paper, the town's children now had an 
opportunity to enjoy the best of everything that should tend to 
make the scholars' life pleasant and helpful. Large, well heated 
rooms; attractive grounds ; blackboards, the great desiderata of 
the former committeemen, lining every wall; airy corridors; 
pictures on the walls, in place of the children's clothing hung over 
broken plaster. The children were naturally impressed by their 
pleasant surroundings, and it is a fact that the words of the donor 



96 

of the biiildino;, asking the children to respect the building and 
see that no defacement of its walls should mar its beauty and 
usefulness, have been scrupulously observed, and I doubt if a 
school building in Massachusetts shows fewer evidences of 
malicious or thoughtless injury at the hands of its pupils. 

The Rogers School was opened in the Fall of 1885. 

The town rose to the occasion and in 1886 voted to employ 
a Superintendent of Schools who should be principal of the High 
School. Mr. Z. AV. Kemp first occupied this position, followed 
by successive principals of the High School till 1897, when by 
a union with Mattapoisett and Acushnet a District Superintendent 
wa3 elected. Mr. E. B. Gray held this position till 1901 when 
he was succeeded by Mr. F. M. Marsh, our [)resent Superin- 
tendent. 

The enormous influence for good exerted by the Rogers 
School and by the election of a Superintendent of Schools, can 
hardly be appreciated except by a close observer of school affairs, 
so constant and so steady has been the improvement, and so 
ready are we as a community to accept civic improvements as a 
matter of course. 

But every visitor and new comer to our town, especially if 
he was ever a resident of this locality in early times, notes and 
marvels at the improvements. 

To enumerate a few of the improvements in the educational 
facilities now otiered to the youth of the town, will perhaps tit- 
tingly illustrate the results which have been accomplished since 
the Rogers School was ()j)ened. 

Music was introduced as a regular study in 1891 with Miss 
Jennie H. Tripp as the Hrst teacher, followed by Miss Tucker and 
lati'r by Miss Trowbridge. 

The Fairhaven High School Association was formed in 1894, 
a society which aims to keep alive interest in the High School 
and serves as a centre around which cluster the traditions and 



97 



memories of old school days, and from which radiate present day 
activities looking towards the improvement of the school. 

The first work of this Society was expended on the lawn of 

the High School. 

Mr. Rogers has been President of the organization since its 

formation. 

A delightful observance was held of the fortieth anniversary 
of the foundino- of the High School on January 26, 1892, when 
exercises were^held at the High School, and a ban.iuet, tendered 
by the President to the members of the Association, was given at 
the Rogers School in the evening. 

The celebration of the fiftieth anniversary on January 2b, 
1902 was still more elal)orate and covered two days of appropri- 
ate and impressive services, including services in the church 
mock session of school in the Town Hall, exercises at the school- 
house, and a banquet at the Town Hall in the evening. Over 
500 former members of the school attended the various exercises. 
Prizes for excellence in English composition are now annu- 
ally awarded by the High School Alumni Association, and in all 
ways they endeavor to keep alive interest in the old school. 

The Educational Art Club was organized for the purpose of 
adornino- the walls of the school rooms with appropriate works of 
art, which would help to cultivate a side of the child's nature 
not reached by text-books. . i i ^ 

By various entertainments, this society has raised about 
$800 which has been used with the purpose stated above, and 
every school room in town has at least two pictures or casts, 
with properly tinted walls for a surface background. Some of 
the rooms have had $100 expended by the Society in decoration 
and the results have been uniformly gratifying. 

Drawing was introduced into the schools as a regular study 
in 1900. mIss Grace Covell was the first instructor followed by 
Miss Ethel Brown, the present teacher. 

The Oxford Schoolhouse was erected in 1896 by the town, 



98 



and is an excellent school building, well arranged and com- 
modious. 

T^^pewriting and stenography, in connection with a com- 
mercial course of study, was introduced into the High School in 
1900. Sewing was introduced in 1901. 

A notable exhibition of the school work of all grades was 
given in the Spring of 1901, and created great interest. 

Through the liberality of a friend of the schools in provid- 
ino; for their installation and maintenance, manual training and 
cooking were put into the school course in the Fall of 1902, and 
have proved extremely satisfactory, thus rounding out the course 
of studies, giving the youth of the town an op})ortunity for a 
practical education offered by few towns in the country. 

For more than ten years the children from Sconticut Neck 
have been transported to the Rogers School, and recently the 
pupils from certain grades at Oxford and from the schools in the 
east part of the town have been brought to the same school, 
sivinii' them the same advantag^es as the children of the villaae. 
The experiment has proved successful ; they enjoy much greater 
educational advantages than it would be possible to give them in 
their several localities. They have a matron to supervise the 
younger children during the noon intermission, and everything 
possible is done to make their school life happy and profitable. 

The Pease fund was established by the will of Abner Pease 
who left certain real estate and $5000 in personal property to 
provide for the education of the children living in the section of 
the town lying between the mill pond and the river and com- 
monly designated as the Pease District. The incoaie was used 
for this })ur})ose and was of material aid in maintaining the 
school in this district, till the completion of the Rogers school 
made it advisable to close the school in this locality, and give the 
chiklren the advantages of a ijraded school. 

By a decision of the Court, the income of the Pease fund 
is used for procuring apparatus, supplementary reading, etc., 



99 

and is very helpful in adding to the school income, and allowing 
the committee to bii}^ extra supplies for the needs of the schools. 
This division of the Pease fund has proved to be an advantage 
not only to the schools of the town in general, but indirectly 
extremely beneficial to the children of the Pease district since it 
has opened up to them the greater educational facilities which 
the Rogers school offers. 

We have given credit above to certain faithful and broad- 
niinded citizens who have in past years served the town with dis- 
cretion and zeal as members of its school committee. A notal)lo 
instance of such devotion to duty is to be found today in the 
person of Job C. Tripp who has been closely identified with the 
schools of Fairhaven for fifty years. Though not always upon 
the committee, yet his interest has never wavered ; he has seen 
the progress of the schools from the district school of 1850 to the 
modern school of 1903 ; he has watched with interest and helped 
with valuable advice, and none more enthusiastic than he at the 
present high standard of our schools. 

Among the distinct educational agencies of any community 
are the libraries which more and more are heli)ing to supplement 
the training and education of the schools. In Fairhaven the 
district school libraries referred to above were in general use in 
the schools, while even as early as 1800 there was a circulating 
liln-ary well patronized. The Fairhaven Library Association 
incorporated in 1860, with Dr. George Atwood as President who 
held the position during the nearly forty years of its existence, was 
well patronized and provided a good collection of well chosen 
books for the subscribers. For many years Mr. Warren Delano 
contributed toward its support, and it was able by rigid economy 
to exist as a useful and dignified element in the culture of the 
connnunity till its career was ended with the establishment of the 
Millicent Library. In 1884, the Thalia club was formed, a so- 
ciety which produced dramatic performances with the purpose 
of aiding the Fairhaven Library 'Association, with the ultimate 

LOFC. 



100 

purpose of starting a building fund for a town library. It ren- 
dered timely assistance to the cause it favored, and its career 
though brief was not inglorious. 

In 1891 the corner stone of the Millicent Library was laid, a 
building which was planned as a memorial to Millicent Clifford 
Rogers, and given to the town by the children of Mr. H. H. 
Rogers, who has generously i)rovided it with an ample endowment 
for its perpetual support. The Millicent Library was dedicated 
with appropriate ceremony on January 30, 1893, and at once com- 
menced a work of phenomenal activity and success. Enshrined 
in a beautiful building admirably adapted for library })urposes, 
managed on an extremely liberal plan, the library has been of 
great value to Fairhaven, to its citizens, and to its institutions. 
Open every day in the year, with its privileges extended freel\^ 
to neighboring communities as well as to the town itself, it has 
circulated more books per capita than any library in the country. 
It has granted special privileges to school teachers and has 
catered to the proper wants of school children, and its influence 
for good has been and is far reaching and eminent. The first 
librarian was Mr. Don C. Stevens, succeeded in 1901 ])y Mr. 
Drew B. Hall, the present librarian. 

In closing this brief account of the history of the town's 
educational agencies, it is fair to say that never has the outlook 
for the schools been so good as it is now. With good buildings 
well equipped, with faithful teachers interested in their work, 
with the general interest more and more displayed by parents in 
the work of the sc^hools, with liberal appropriations readily 
granted by the citizens for the furtherance of school work on 
broad and progressive lines, the schools of Fairhaven reflect 
credit upon the town and give promise of })roviding that oppor- 
tunity^ which should be the heritage of every youth of America. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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